Secret evidence of nun's jilted ex to go public

SECRET evidence from the jilted boyfriend of a city nun being lined up for sainthood is to be heard for the first time at a pilgrimage in her honour.

Margaret Sinclair, a factory worker who became a nun, cared for Edinburgh slum dwellers in the early 20th century.

Priests say that the campaign for her to become Scotland's second saint is gaining momentum.

And this weekend, on the 80th anniversary of her death, sealed archives containing interviews with her family, friends, work colleagues and her former boyfriend, are to be opened to the public.

The files reveal how Vatican-appointed inquisitors grilled 30 of Margaret's companions over six weeks in 1952 to dredge up a profile of the woman from Blackfriars Street to whom miracles were being attributed.

The taskforce was led by a Franciscan friar sent from Rome as the promoter of the faith or "devil's advocate" to ensure there was no scandal which might emerge to damage her canonisation cause.

Witnesses were asked 20 questions under oath and pain of ex-communication, the answers to some of which ran into dozens of pages.

The 600-page bound document in Latin and Italian, from statements taken in 1930 and then more officially in 1952, contains the testimony of Margaret's boyfriend, whom she abandoned to become a Poor Clare nun.

Patrick Lynch went out with Margaret for around two years and testified in her favour.

Father Richard Reid, an expert on Margaret Sinclair at St Patrick's Church on the Cowgate, where she is buried, pored over the documentary evidence.

He said: "Patrick Lynch was very positive about Margaret but he felt a bit hard done by. The priest who wrote up his original story in 1930 didn't paint him in a very good light, which is unfortunate as according to all the testimonies the family really liked him and Margaret liked him, though not enough to marry him.

"Patrick said that all the time he knew her she was holy and good and she encouraged him to look deeper at his faith. He also revealed that like him she was a well-known trade unionist in the factory where she worked."

Father Reid said that the archives had been kept sealed in the Vatican so that witnesses were able to speak freely without fear of disclosure.

The files depict the extent of Margaret's religious zeal. Her mother, who was illiterate and relied heavily on her daughter, said she was left "bereft" when Margaret joined a religious order.

Margaret wrote letters on her mother's behalf to her father when he was away fighting in the First World War.

The files disclose that in one of them she omitted a comma, with humorous consequences, signing it off: "God save you from your loving wife."

Interviewees were asked how they knew Margaret and what they knew about her work life in the factory.

They were probed for personal details about Margaret to assess their relationships with her.

Nuns who worked alongside her were asked if she was a good nun, what her faith was like, if she had great hope in God, if she was prudent, just and whether they considered her a special nun.

The files show Margaret's fun-loving side, for example in her "sparring relationship" with Sister Frances Mulgrew, a nun from Glasgow with whom Margaret developed a friendship in the Essex nursing home where she died in 1925.

"They hit it off by slagging off each other's cities," said Father Reid.

Margaret was granted "Venerable" status by the Catholic Church in 1978. The next steps on the road to sainthood are beatification and then canonisation.

Margaret was originally buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery, but in 2003 her remains were dug up and she was reburied in a vault in a side-chapel of St Patrick's Church, in South Gray's Close, near where she had lived.

This happened because so many people had been visiting her grave that the Catholic Church wanted to make sure her remains were safe.

After she was moved to St Patrick's, church insiders said it was a sure sign that canonisation was not far off.

FATHER Reid said that the campaign for Margaret's canonisation had really taken off since the publicity surrounding her exhumation and reburial and now, on the 80th anniversary of her death, they had decided the time was right to release the files.

"It will be the first time the documents have been publicly read. We have a copy in the church but the originals are in the Vatican."

Ms Sinclair would be only the second Scottish saint. St John Ogilvie, the 16th-century martyr who was tortured and hanged in Glasgow, was canonised in 1976.

Known as Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds, Margaret helped the poor and under-privileged through prayer.

Many claim to have been miraculously cured by the prayer of the Venerable Margaret, including a blind woman who recovered her eyesight, a woman who had chronic osteoarthritis and a woman in Liverpool with a tubercular infection in her lungs.

One of the better-known supporters of Margaret's cause is broadcaster and DJ Sir Jimmy Savile, who credits her with saving his life when he fell ill as a two-year-old.

Jimmy's death certificate was written by the doctor, then his mother prayed to Margaret in Leeds Cathedral and when she came home, he was back to his old laughing self.

The annual Margaret Sinclair Day will be celebrated in St Patrick's Church this Sunday beginning at 2pm.

The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz, will attend as well as pilgrims from throughout Scotland.

Cardinal O'Brien, Scotland's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, will also attend as the official promoter of the cause to see the Venerable Margaret Sinclair eventually canonised.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said they would like to see the Vatican re-examine Margaret's case.

He said: "These documents testify to the thoroughness and the exacting nature of the process adopted by the Vatican when considering someone for sainthood.

"The Catholic Church in Scotland is completely behind the Margaret Sinclair cause as she is a shining example of holiness and devotion to her faith.

"But the bottom line is it is not easy to become a saint."

From humble beginnings to a champion for social justice

MARGARET SINCLAIR was born in 1900 and brought up in Blackfriars Street. She was one of nine children born to Andrew and Elizabeth Sinclair.

She was raised a Catholic by her mother, who was a devout Catholic, and her father, a Protestant who converted.

Margaret became interested in religion at an early age and regularly attended mass at St Patrick's Church in the Cowgate and helped the elderly and homeless in the city's slums.

After being educated at St Anne's School in the Cowgate, she took a certificate in sewing, cooking and dressmaking at the Atholl School of Domestic Economy, while working as an errand girl for a local business.

She left formal education at 14 and began work as a French polisher in the Waverley Cabinet Works where she displayed her strong sense of social justice.

The Duke of York was due to visit and workers all had their wages docked by a penny to pay for a new pavement for their auspicious visitor. As the trade union representative, Margaret protested that it was unfair that the employees were not considered good enough to merit a new pavement on their own behalf.

Margaret joined the Order of the Poor Clares in London, aged just 23 and only a few months later contracted tuberculosis of the throat. She died in an Essex nursing home in 1925.

The canonisation process can only commence five years after the candidate's death, although Pope John Paul II waived this rule in Mother Teresa's case.

Local bishops investigate the candidate's life and send the findings to the Vatican where a special commission - including a latter-day "Devil's Advocate" whose job it is to challenge any claim - investigates and approves the claims. The Pope then proclaims the candidate is "Venerable", meaning a role model of Roman Catholic virtues, and the candidate is then beatified, or proclaimed "Blessed", if the Church decides they are responsible for a miracle after their death. Finally, for canonisation, the Church must certify proof of a second posthumous miracle.