Although she was born in Ireland, Sister Clare Crockett changed the lives of many people in Playa Prieta, Ecuador.

“Sister Clare’s legacy in Ecuador is a beacon of joy and hope. I live and work here and am in contact with people from all walks of life — the elderly, the young, businesspeople, farmers — and somehow, everyone knew Sister Clare. Even when I say I’m part of the community, they respond, ‘No way! Sister Clare… she was our Sister Clare!’” Father Matthew Nobrega shared, member of the Servant Priests and Brothers of the Home of the Mother in Ecuador.

The Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother educate more than 400 children at the Sagrada Familia School in Playa Prieta. Located about 300 km from the capital, this rural area of Ecuador faces high levels of poverty, and as a result, a severe lack of educational resources.

At this very school, Sister Clare Crockett and other Sisters of the Home of the Mother dedicated their mission to the youth.

Clare was born in Derry, a town in Northern Ireland. As a child, she dreamed of becoming a movie star. With strong artistic talent and a charismatic personality, she joined a talent agency at 14. She acted in stage plays and presented shows for Channel 4 in the UK.

Sister Clare recalled that time during World Youth Day in Madrid, 2011:

“When I was 17, I was asked to present for a major TV channel — Nickelodeon. Do you have that here? Yes?”

But as she pursued fame, one unexpected invitation changed her life.

“The key moment in Sister Clare’s conversion came during a trip to Spain,” Father Nobrega noted. “A friend of hers had appendicitis and couldn’t go, so she offered her place to Clare.”

“What Clare didn’t know,” he said, “was that it was a religious trip — instead of going to the beach in Ibiza, they went to a monastery in the middle of nowhere near Cuenca, Spain. She went, sort of tricked into it, but still freely, and spent Holy Week there. On Good Friday, when everyone approached the cross to venerate it, she felt Jesus speak to her from the cross: ‘I love you, and I died for you.’ That encounter with the crucified Christ completely changed Sister Clare’s life.”

In her own words, Sister Clare Crockett explains,  “At that moment, I felt something like a slap inside of me… it was like God was showing me that He was truly God on the cross and that the only way I could comfort him was with my life.”

At the age of 18, she joined as a candidate for the Servants of the Home of the Mother on August 11, 2001. She made her profession of vows on September 8, 2010.

Sister Claire devoted her work to young people and children, whom she captivated with her musical talent.

“When she was assigned to Guayaquil, which was a new foundation in a city with a lot of poverty and many dangers, she devoted herself fully to the task with great joy and enthusiasm,” Father Nobrega explained.

In Playa Prieta, she did the same work the Sisters continue today: she played soccer with students, taught guitar lessons, and gave English classes to underprivileged children who, thanks to benefactors, now have access to a Catholic education.

The Sisters also visit homes in the area to deliver medicine and food.

This was the work that Claire carried out until April 16, 2016, when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador, killing more than 600 people — among them, Sister Clare Crockett.

Father Nobrega told us more of the story, “The sisters had attended Mass here in Playa Prieta and were returning home. She was about to start her guitar lesson when the earthquake struck, and she didn’t have time to leave the building before it collapsed under the weight of its four floors. The earthquake killed her and the girls who were attending their guitar lessons.”

Sister Clare’s death motivated Matthew Nobrega to join the Servant Brothers of the Home of the Mother in Ecuador. After the earthquake, the Archbishop of Porto Viejo invited priests to establish a community there to help rebuild the churches that had collapsed.

As it did for him, Sister Clare’s legacy continues to impact the lives of thousands of young people around the world. Many say she was an inspiration in their vocational journey.

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Adapted by Jacob Stein