Today we will consider the virtue of prudence in the life of Fr Willie. We will take a bit more care in doing so as prudence is not as straightforward as it first appears…
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following about the virtue of prudence:
1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; “the prudent man looks where he is going.” “Keep sane and sober for your prayers.” Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.
Adolphe Tanquery, in his classic book The Spiritual Life, gives a more succinct description of the virtue of prudence:
Prudence is a supernatural, moral virtue which inclines our intellect to choose in every instance the best means for attaining our aims, by subordinating them to our ultimate end.
Hence, it is not prudence of the flesh, nor merely human prudence, but Christian prudence.
Tanquery goes on the distinguish Christian prudence from prudence of the flesh and human prudence by stating:
It is Christian prudence which, based upon the principles of Christian faith, refers all things to the supernatural end, that is to say, to God known and loved upon earth and possessed in heaven…Prudence therefore concerns itself with all the details of our life. It regulates our thoughts to prevent them from straying away from God. It regulates our motives to keep them aloof from whatever may affect their singleness of purpose. It regulates our affections, our sentiments and our choices, so as to centre them on God. It regulates even our exterior actions and execution of our good resolves so as to refer them to our ultimate end.
And further:
The rule of Christian prudence is not reason alone, but reason enlightened by faith…it draws inspiration from the examples of the saints, who lived according to the Gospel and from the teachings of the Church, our infallible guide. Thus we are sure of not going astray.
We have a natural tendency to equate prudence with merely human prudence, which is very different to supernatural, Christian prudence as Tanquery makes clear. This distinction is important, because there are aspects of Fr Willie’s life that do not make sense in terms of merely human prudence. After all, is it prudent in worldly terms for a priest, who is already very busy and leading a fruitful life, to volunteer as a military chaplain in the first place? The same can be said for many of the saints. In human terms, it was not prudent for the apostles to follow an unknown, itinerant preacher. It was not humanly prudent for St Paul to embrace the new Christian sect and to face prison, shipwreck and death to spread its message. It was not humanly prudent for the early Christians to prefer facing lions in an amphitheatre rather than to abandon their faith. It was not humanly prudent for St Benedict to give up his patrician life of learning and go off into the wilderness. It was not humanly prudent for St Francis of Assisi to give up his family wealth. It was not humanly prudent for St Thomas More to abandon his power, his wealth and his head over a matter of conscience. It was not humanly prudent for St Ignatius to give up his life of chivalry to go and live in a cave for months and then, as a grown man, to go back to school with little children. It was not humanly prudent for St Lawrence of Brindisi to lead 18,000 Christian soldiers against 80,000 invading Muslim soldiers, brandishing only a crucifix. It was not humanly prudent for Blessed Franz Jägerstätter to become a conscientious objector in the Second World War and consequently lose his life. It was not humanly prudent for Saint Teresa of Calcutta to leave her order and to start a new order dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor. The list could go on and on – every saint has practiced the virtue of Christian prudence, but probably every single one of them has been doubtful in their exercise of so-called “prudence” in purely human, calculated worldly terms.
Having thus established the distinction between supernatural prudence and human prudence, we can see much evidence for the virtue of Christian prudence in the life of Fr Willie. He truly pointed his life towards Heaven, his ultimate end, and he was prudent in doing so. By following the classic Ignatian exercise of rigorous self-examination, aided by a constant habit of taking notes about his spiritual life, his successes and his sins, he came to know himself and his weaknesses, and thus to grow in all the virtues. This is important – Fr Willie was naturally hot tempered and impetuous. Such characters can often be imprudent. It was something he had to struggle with throughout life, but the prudent habit of self-examination helped him in the task.
In his dealings with others he had to exercise prudence. Only a prudent man could win the souls of those hardened against faith, or touch the soul of Fanny Cranbush the street prostitute, or manage to win the love of the soldiers to whom he ministered. And only a prudent man would be so avidly sought out for spiritual direction as Fr Doyle was.
Fr Doyle also had to exercise prudence in his efforts to open a retreat house for workers. He even went so far as going on a fact-finding mission in England and in Europe to better understand how such houses worked elsewhere. A prudent man is always willing to learn from others who have more experience.
But having said all of this, there remains the question of Fr Doyle’s penances. There are critics who believe them to have been imprudent. Irrespective of the issue of prudence in human terms, were they imprudent in terms of the cardinal virtue of Christian prudence?
This is a big topic, and beyond the scope of the discussion today. But for now, four points will suffice:
1. Everything Fr Doyle did had a precedent in the lives of the saints. If we are to dismiss Fr Doyle for his penance, we must also dismiss many of the canonised saints, including St Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits. Many canonised saints have publicly admitted that they had been imprudent in the matter of penance in their early years.
2. Fr Doyle had permission for his penances. The Jesuit provincial placed him under the supervision of a wise Jesuit to supervise his penances. Fr Doyle feared this development as he felt this Jesuit would be most unsympathetic when it came to Fr Doyle’s perceived calling to penance. In fact, this priest only modified Fr Doyle’s penances in very minor ways and Fr Doyle was surprised at how little his confessor wished him to change.
3. He felt that he had a special calling to a life of penance, above and beyond that of those around him. His superiors evidently agreed.
4. He never allowed those he advised to adopt harsh physical penances. As he said on one occasion to someone to whom he was giving spiritual direction:
I do not want, in fact I forbid you, to be imprudent in the matter of corporal penances.
In the light of all of the above, and especially in terms of what he (and his confessor) perceived to be his special calling, it would seem that he was not generally imprudent in the matter of his penances.
There remains, then, the matter of the war. Fr Doyle certainly took risks in saving others, but his willingness to lay down his life in service of others is certainly not imprudent in the supernatural sense.
The following quote from his letter home is significant:
I feel wonderful peace and confidence in leaving myself absolutely in God’s Hands. Only I know it would not be right, I would like never to take shelter from bursting shells; and up to a few days ago, till ordered by the Colonel, I never wore a steel helmet. I want to give myself absolutely to Him to do with me just as He pleases, to strike or kill me, as He wishes, trying to go along bravely and truthfully, looking up into His loving Face, for surely He knows best.
Crucially, Fr Doyle, who would prefer never to have to hide from shells, did so because he knew that not hiding from shells would not be right and would be a failure of prudence, and he also obeyed the order to wear a steel helmet given by his military superiors.
Despite his natural temperament, Fr Doyle lived a life of supernatural prudence.
We conclude with a prayer to Fr Doyle for private use.
Eternal Father, your priest, Fr William Doyle, offered his life as a sacrifice to your love. With zeal for the salvation of souls, he sought to raise the fallen and console the broken-hearted. Amid the horrors of war, he was a servant of your grace and an advocate for peace and reconciliation. Teach us to imitate his love for you and his heroic devotion to your service.
If it is your will that he should be venerated among the Saints of your Church, make known by miracles and favours the glory he enjoys in your presence. Trusting in your merciful goodness, graciously grant us, through his intercession, the grace of _______. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be