The President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, in an address made on this day in 1923, had the following praise for Fr Willie:

I have been profoundly stirred in recent months by the experience of a young Roman Catholic saint, a member of the Society of Jesus, a tremendous lover of Jesus, a tremendous soul-winner, a great human and a great humorist.

He had presumably been reading an early edition of the O’Rahilly biography and was deeply impressed with Fr Willie’s example. Of course, in referring to Fr Willie as a saint he was using the term in a popular and unofficial manner.

This quote, from a non-Catholic clergyman, is just one of innumerable examples of how Fr Willie’s admirable holiness and humanity have inspired people from all sorts of backgrounds and philosophies. Fr Willie was all things to all men – almost everyone can find something appealing and attractive about him once they study his life and spirit with an open mind.

It’s also worth recalling today was a significant ecumenical figure Fr Willie was. He died whole rescuing two Northern Irish Protestant soldiers. Fr Willie was, essentially, an ecumenical martyr of charity. It is an aspect of his story that has been strangely ignored over the years.