Elizabeth Prout, also known as Mother Mary Joseph of Jesus, (2 September 1820 – 11 January 1864) was the founder of the religious congregation of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion.

Prout began to feel a strong attraction to the religious life and Rossi advised her to join the Sisters of the Infant Jesus in Northampton.

She soon established herself in the parish by visiting the sick and poor in some of the poorest areas of Manchester, teaching workers in the cotton mills and Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine.

[4] Touched by the misery and deprivation of the poor, she and a few companions came together to form a community to help the voiceless downtrodden workers in the large industrial towns of nineteenth-century England.

[5] Prout felt that she wanted to establish a more regular life for her and her companions and thought first of joining an existing religious institute, but then, with the advice of Rossi, believed she was called to found a new congregation.

[6] The life of Prout and her female companions was strict, and they laboured for much of the day in prayer and working for the local poor.

Prout and the sisters received a religious habit at the hands of Father Croskell, parish priest of St. Chad's, on the Feast of the Presentation of Mary, 21 November 1852.

The sisters earned their living as best they could; they knew, like the people around them, what poverty was, and at times Prout was forced to beg.

When Rossi was transferred to the United States by his superiors Spencer took the place of the spiritual guide of Prout and her Institute.

The result of the investigation was extremely positive and revealed the deep poverty of the sisters and the sacrifices they had made in their hard work.

Her body was exhumed on 20 June 1973 and on 30 July reburied beside Ignatius Spencer and Dominic Barberi in the new shrine at Sutton.