In today’s 4th post Fr Willie presents a “typical” scene to his father. It is unclear if this is an historical record of a specific incident or an amalgamation of several different events to present his father with an insight into his typical activities. A poor wounded fellow lies on a stretcher with death already stamped on his face. The bearers lay their burden gently down—these rough men have the …
WWI
July 25, 2022
The reformation of one’s life must be the work of every day. I should take each rule and duty, think how Jesus acted, or would have done, and contrast my conduct with His. COMMENT: Fr Doyle’s words today are direct and relevant for us all. The daily reformation Fr Willie recommends must be practical in nature. We do not reform our lives in the abstract by imagining great things we …
July 17, 2022
Fr Willie gave his last homily 104 years ago today. Here is Alfred O’Rahilly’s account of this last sermon, complete with valuable first hand testimony from the famous Fr Frank Browne SJ: The 48th Brigade was at rest or rather down for a rifle shooting course near St. Omer. The 2nd and 8th Dublins were in and around the little village of St. Martin au Laert about a mile and …
July 15, 2022
Today we continue with Fr Willie’s narrative on the battle for Messines Ridge with the events that occurred on June 7 1917. It was a day of devastating losses for the German side. In fact, the explosions underneath the German trenches were the most powerful in history at that time. Fr Willie did not glory in this loss of life. We see him today praying for the many thousands of …
June 7, 2022
Today we have a small excerpt from one of Fr Doyle’s letters which describes his preparations for the Battle of Messines. It was a truly devastating engagement. We shall read Fr Doyle’s description of the events tomorrow, though in preparation you may be interested in reading a description of the attack here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines For today, we will focus on Fr Doyle’s spiritual preparations. Here is Fr Doyle’s description of this night …
June 6, 2022
I had not the heart to wake up the poor nuns, and after all when one is fast asleep, is not a hard plank just as soft as a feather bed? You see I am becoming a bit of a philosopher! The next morning, I had Mass in a field close to the camp. I wish you could have seen the men as they knelt in a hollow square round …
June 4, 2022
As you might like to know how the ‘game of raiding your neighbour’ is played, a sort of novelty for your next garden party, I shall give you a few particulars. You dig two trenches about 100 yards apart and fill one with the enemy, who are well provided with hand bombs, machine guns etc. Some night when you think they won’t expect your coming, a party of your men …
May 29, 2022
The following quote from one of Fr Willie’s letters recounts some of his war time adventures on 23 May 1917. What shines out for us on this occasion is Fr Willie’s naturalness, his dedication to providing the sacraments to the soldiers and, as always, his calm courage – I’m not sure that many of us would sum up these events by saying “there was really little danger”… I had been …
May 23, 2022
If there is any certain mark of the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost in the soul, if there is any visible pledge of future happiness destined for man, assuredly it is lightness of heart and joy of spirit. COMMENT: One of the most striking things about O’Rahilly’s biography of Fr Willie was the level of detail he revealed about his asceticism. It is debateable whether it was good to …
May 18, 2022
We continue today with an excerpt from the original letter detailing some of the work Fr Willie had to undertake towards the end of April, 1916. After these stressful days were ended, Fr Willie was given a few days rest, and he was able to remove and change his clothes for the first time in over two weeks! Such was his exhaustion from serving the soldiers that he slept for …
April 28, 2022