Family ask visitors to be respectful at graveside

The council, which owns the City Cemetery in Londonderry, is to consider installing paths and railings around the grave of Sr Clare to accommodate an influx of visitors to the site.

“There are just so many people that come from everywhere, they are not just from Derry, they travel from afar,” Shauna Gill told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today.

“I totally understand other families’ disappointment when they see other people are standing on graves.

“They are touching Clare’s gravestone and posing for photos with the headstone, so some people are just not thinking about their surroundings.

“A lot of people are respectful, but there are some graves that are being damaged around it.”

Ms Gill said the narrow path makes it difficult for people to navigate the grave and believes removing hedging at the back of the grave and installing railings could help with access.

“This could take all that congestion away from the front of the grave,” she said.

Ms Gill said she understands why people come to pray to Sr Clare, but they must understand that their parents are also buried there.

She said it can be hard for her family to visit the grave for a quiet moment of reflection knowing “you might not get near the grave”.

Sr Clare Theresa Crockett, from Brandywell in Derry, was previously an actor but turned down the chance to present on children’s TV channel Nickelodeon to become a nun.

Friends were said to be in disbelief after she announced her decision while holding a “beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other”.

She then took a vow with the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother order.

Her motto in life was “all or nothing” and has previously been associated with fertility miracles.

Sr Clare and another Irish nun injured in the quake, Sr Thérèse Ryan from County Limerick, had been teaching guitar and singing with five young women postulants – who were entering the religious order – when the earthquake struck.

It is believed they became trapped on a stairwell as they ran out of the building.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed at least 480 people, injured more than 4,000 and left 231 missing.

Catholic Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown has said every grave is sacred and every family should have the right to pay their respects.

He said the grave was “a major attraction” at the cemetery and a number of signposts had been erected to guide visitors to it.

“Many people who have even come to visit me in Derry and have asked specifically to visit the grave,” he said.

“I just hope something can be done for all the family involved.”

He said long-term plans are being considered to manage the sheer volume of people arriving into the cemetery and sites linked to Sr Clare.

Shauna Gill said they are also dealing with people arriving at Sr Clare’s old house, which is currently occupied by a family member, and said that can also present challenges.

“They can show up at any time of the day and can knock at the door,” she said.

“We have had people come and touch the walls or stand outside the house.

“They have even asked for clothes or anything that Clare had, they just want a bit of Clare.

“This is all new for everybody, so we are all trying to come to terms with it both as a town and as a family and we are just trying to find out what we can do about it.”

Ms Gill said it was difficult to navigate the many complexities associated with being the sister of a nun who is in the process of becoming a saint.