Cumbernauld priest credits '˜miracle' for his survival

Monsignor Peter Smith has been told by his surgeon that there is “no medical explanation” for his recovery.

The 58-year old whose parents Peter and Elizabeth still live in McGregor Road had been receiving treatment for an aggressive, advanced cancer.

He then discovered he had a blood clot shadowing his lung and a deadly infection Doctors wouldn’t operate as they said it would kill him - and suspected he wouldn’t survive 48 hours.

Yet despite that dire prognosis, Monsignor Smith pulled through and it’s business as usual now he has returned to his parish, St Paul’s in Glasgow’s Whiteinch.

A key task in his comeback is to tell others what has happened to him, by way of an act of thanksgiving.

And he believes that prayers to the Venerable Margaret Sinclair were instrumental in his amazing journey back to the life he knew before .

He had asked friends to pray to the Edinburgh woman whose cause for sainthood has been pursued since shortly after her death in 1925.

And this episode will be presented to the Vatican to further plead her case for sainthood.

Monsignor Smith said: “When you ask someone for a favour and they grant it, it’s only right to say thank you.

“Margaret Sinclair is a wonderful example of an ordinary Scottish woman close to our time who lived the Gospel in a poor family home, at school, in the parish, the world of industry and the convent.

He said: “We don’t expect miracles – I’m not sure I expected one either, after all my cancer has not gone away – but I’ve been round long enough in ministry not to be surprised.

“You see miracles every day but the idea that this might help someone become a saint is overwhelming.”

“I don’t want to be the centre of attention but if I have been granted this favour then I must let it be known.”