Ignatius Spencer: Pope moves Royal relative closer to sainthood

Ignatius Spencer was a high-profile convert to the Roman Catholic faith

A distant relative of Princes William and Harry has been moved closer to sainthood by the Pope.

According to a decree issued by Pope Francis, Father Ignatius Spencer lived a life "of heroic virtue".

The priest, who is buried in the church of St Anne and Blessed Dominic in St Helens, was a great, great, great uncle of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

In the final stage of the canonisation process, Fr Spencer needs two miracles attributed to him to be verified.

He is now honoured as "venerable" in The Roman Catholic Church.

Last month, a nun mentored by Fr Spencer was also declared venerable by the pontiff.

Elizabeth Prout was known as the "Mother Teresa of Manchester" for her charity work.

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool welcomed the pope's latest announcement with "great happiness," adding that it was a "remarkable grace" for the archdiocese to have both Fr Spencer and Mother Prout declared venerable within weeks of each other.

Fr Spencer was born in 1799 into one of the wealthiest and most influential families in England.

He scandalised the establishment as a high-profile convert from Anglicanism to the Roman Catholic faith.

Ignatius Spencer is buried next to Blessed Dominic Barberi

Born George Spencer, he had not shown any religious inclinations until he saw a performance in Paris of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.

He was shocked by a scene in which Giovanni is carried off to Hell by a troop of devils.

Spencer was ordained an Anglican priest but became Catholic in 1830 after studying the early history of Christianity.

Ordained in 1832, he worked initially in the Black Country and was inspired in 1847 to join the Italian religious order The Passionists after encountering Blessed Dominic Barberi.

He took the name Ignatius and spent his life in England and Ireland as a Catholic missionary.

The priest died of a heart attack, alone in a ditch, aged 64 while returning from a mission in Scotland in 1864.

He was buried in Sutton, St. Helens alongside his co-workers Fr Barberi and Mother Prout.

Pope Francis has declared that Ignatius Spencer lived a life of "heroic virtue"