A Vatican investigation has declared that Father Ignatius
Spencer, who is buried in Merseyside, 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 Diana,
Princess of Wales.
Rome has to verify two claimed medical cures to declare someone a saint.
Father Ben Lodge CP, who is responsible for promoting Father Spencer's cause, said the Vatican's move was "good news".
Born George Spencer in 1799, he was the youngest child of the
second Earl Spencer, who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time.
Noted preacher
He grew up at Althorp, where Diana Princess of Wales is now
buried, and was an Anglican clergyman in the area before his conversion
to the Roman Catholic Church scandalised some sections of Victorian
society.
The Spencers, who were ancestors of Winston Churchill, were the fifth wealthiest family in the country.
On becoming a Roman Catholic priest, Father Spencer was
attracted to the Passionist congregation - a religious congregation
which lived a life of radical poverty.
He became noted as a preacher who was equally at home among the aristocracy as he was among the urban poor.
He was a forerunner of the drive for better relations between
the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations with his
desire for "unity in truth".
The Vatican, which has been studying his writings since 2007,
said it had concluded that he lived a holy life and there was nothing
in his written work which was contrary to Roman Catholic teachings on
faith and morals.
To become a saint, promoters of his cause will have to
provide evidence of two "inexplicable" medical cures attributed to his
heavenly intervention.
SIC: BBC/UK