Catholic Scot’s ‘touching’ death moves thousands

The much-admired Scottish Catholic who documented his final days on social media as he suffered from terminal cancer has died.

Stuart Rogerson, 70, was a former Church of Scotland minister who converted to Catholicism in 2013. Earlier this year, he was diagnosed with inoperable oesophageal cancer.

He decided to document his preparation for death on Twitter, where he amassed a following of over 11,000 people.

In an article for The Scottish Catholic, Stuart said he had always prayed for knowledge of his death so ‘that I could prepare myself and far more importantly have the conversations I wanted to have with those I hold most dear.’

“I prayed too for years that I would be granted a good death to be able to show to others that there need be no fear,” he said.

“My body is dying, crumbling, fading away – but I am not. God breathed me into existence and now I am being prepared to be born from the womb of this life into eternal life.”

A personal friend of Stuart and fellow contributor to The Scottish Catholic Will Ross published a eulogy of Rogerson in which he called him the ‘rarest of men’, stating he was ‘good, humble and with the air of genuine sanctity which radiated from him.’

“Just very occasionally, someone very special touches your life and the experience changes you forever,” he said.

“Those special people are like the brightest of lights, whose gentle glows illuminates not only the room, but far, far beyond.

“Catholics give such people a very particular name, one given rarely and never given easily – we call them saints.”

His moving testimony has resonated with Catholics around the globe.

Fr Stephen Smuts, a priest in Cape Town, said ‘his body has died, but he has not’.

“I have followed his moving dying updates and he truly has died ‘well’, with his unwavering faith in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ intact,” he said. “May his family be comforted at this time, and his soul rest in peace and rise in glory.”

Sr Michelle Miller, A Cistercian form St Mary’s Abbery, in Glencairn, Ireland said it was an ‘absolute privilege’ to have known him.

“He was unique and exceptional in sharing his slow progress towards death’s door,” she said. “I will never forget his endurance, prayer and courage. May he rest in Peace.”

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