 Spencer's Crusade was the first association with the unity of Christians as its aim and it is with this in mind that he is often hailed as the 'Apostle of Ecumenical Prayer’.George had often considered the possibility that he might have a vocation to enter the religious life and in 1846 he made a long retreat, finally deciding that it was God's will that he should enter the Passionist Congregation.On 5 January 1847 George Spencer received the Passionist habit from the hands of his old friend Father Dominic Barberi, who had brought the congregation to England in 1841.