Monsignor miraculously cured of cancer thanks to intercession of Venerable Margaret Sinclair

'If this helps people, in the light of faith, grow closer to the Gospel, then I am doing my job.'

Mgr Peter Smith, the Parish Priest of St. Paul's in Whiteinch, Glasgow, was diagnosed with cancer in May 2016. Rather than lose hope, he urged friends and family to pray for Venerable Margaret Sinclair's intercession for healing.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Venerable Margaret Sinclair was born in the Edinburgh's Cowgate in 1900. She was raised in poverty and quit school at 14-years-old to become a French polisher and, eventually, a trade union activist.

She entered a Convent of the Order of Poor Clares in London in 1923 and became Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds.

She spent the rest of her life helping the poor until 1925, when she passed from tuberculosis. She was buried in her home parish of St. Patrick's in the Cowgate.

Mgr. Smith explained: "Margaret Sinclair is a wonderful example of an ordinary Scottish woman, close to our time, who lived the Gospel in the everyday, in a poor family home in Edinburgh, at school, in St. Patrick's parish, the word of industry and into the convent."

Speaking to Flourish, the official Archdiocese of Glasgow newspaper, Mgr. Smith reported a blood clot was discovered in his lung, which led to a deadly infection. The infection took hold to the body tissues from his hips to shoulders in what doctors knew would be a fatal attack.

No operation could save him and doctors gave Mgr. 48 hours to live.

The Monsignor's requests for Sinclair's intercession were met with a miracle. He survived the 48-hour time frame and was healed.

When he spoke to his surgeon, the doctor said there is "no medical explanation" for the miraculous recovery.

Mgr. Smith knows it was the intercession of Venerable Margaret that cured him and now he feels the need to cry it from the rooftops.

"For 32 years of priesthood, I've been preaching the resurrection of Christ and this is a sign for me that I am doing something which is true and not wasted," he explained.

"I don't want to be the centre of attention, but if I've been granted this favour then I have to let it be known and allow the Church to judge it....When you ask someone for a favour and they grant it, it is only right to say thank you.

"We don't expect miracles - and I'm not sure I expected one either - after all, my cancer hasn't gone away - but I've been around long enough in ministry not to be surprised. I've seen it happen.

"If this helps people, in the light of faith, grow closer to the Gospel, then I am doing my job. In illness I am able to live my priesthood and help other people."

Mgr. Smith continues to give all credit for his miraculous healing to Sinclair, who was declared "Venerable" in 1978 by Pope Paul VI. If Mgr. Smith's healing is recognized by the Catholic Church and is attributed to her intercession, she could become "Blessed."

Father Joe McAuley, who is in charge of promoting Venerable Margaret's cause for beatification, fully supports the monsignor's accreditation of Sinclair.

Archbishop Leo Cushley, another of St. Paul's priests, stated: "Firstly, I am delighted to learn of Mgr. Smith's dramatically improved health and assure him of my continued prayers in his ongoing battle with cancer, potentially, though, this could be a major landmark in the bid to beatify Margaret Sinclair, a great contemporary witness to the desirability and possibility of daily holiness."

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