Right Royal Saint (To Be?) (UK/Vatican)

The British royal family could soon have its first saint after the Catholic Church took a step forward in the canonization process of a priest related to Princes William and Harry.

An inquiry into the possible sainthood of Father Ignatius Spencer was sent to the Congregation for Saints' Causes March 1 after an exhaustive 12-year investigation by British Catholic officials.

A tribunal in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, England, concluded Feb. 26 that there was nothing in either the work or 22 volumes of writings by Father Spencer to suggested he did not live a life of heroic virtue.

The first step in the canonization process is the declaration of a person's heroic virtues then beatification. In general, the church must confirm two miracles through the intercession of the sainthood candidate before canonization.

"The next stage is to hope and pray for a miracle that can be attributed to the intercession of Ignatius," said Passionist Father Ben Lodge, the postulator of the cause from Kent, England.

Father Spencer is related to the princes through their mother, Princess Diana of Wales.

Born in Admiralty House in 1799, he was the great-great-great-uncle of Princess Diana and was also the great-uncle of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.Father Spencer grew up at the family home in Althorp, where Princess Diana was buried after she was killed in a Paris car crash in August 1997.

But he turned his back on a life of immense wealth and comfort when he converted to Catholicism -- a move which shocked his contemporaries.

He joined the newly formed Passionists, changed his name from George to Ignatius, and worked for the conversion of England to the Catholic faith until his death in 1864.

"He was also heroic in following his vow of poverty," he said. "He gave up being a member of one of the wealthiest families in the country in which he had a massive income and ended up going out to Ireland to work with the victims of the potato famine," said Father Lodge.

Father Lodge said Father Spencer was about 150 years ahead of his time in his commitment to the "unity in truth" of all Christians, a theme later embraced by the Second Vatican Council.

Father Spencer's greatest achievement was "preparing the ground" for the ecumenical movement of the late 20th century, Father Lodge added.

Father Spencer's other great love was cricket, a sport which he described as "my mania," and he often organized matches among seminarians while he was the dean of St. Mary's Seminary in Oscott.

Father Spencer's body is entombed in St. Anne's Church in St. Helens alongside Blessed Dominic Barberi, an Italian Passionist priest beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963.

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