Tribute by Sergeant T. Flynn published in the Irish News on this day in 1917 We had the misfortune to lose our chaplain, Fr. Doyle, the other day. He was a real saint and would never leave his men, and it was really marvellous to see him burying dead soldiers under terrible shell fire. He did not know what fear was, and everybody in the battalion, Catholic and Protestant alike, …
WWI
August 29, 2016
The following was written about Fr Doyle by Sir Percival Phillips, the famous war correspondent, and appeared in the Daily Express on this day in 1917. The Orangemen will not forget a certain Roman Catholic chaplain who lies in a soldier’s grave in that sinister plain beyond Ypres. He went forward and back over the battle field with bullets whining about him, seeking out the dying and kneeling in the …
August 22, 2016
During his time away from the trenches Fr Doyle often stayed in a convent in Locre. If my memory serves me correctly, he had an uninterrupted 13 hour sleep after one particularly trying period at the front, and on one occasion he got locked out and had to sleep on a bench outside. In any event, these nuns of St Anthony’s Institute obviously held Fr Doyle in very great esteem. …
August 21, 2016
On this day in 1917, 4 days after Fr Doyle’s death, Fr Frank Browne, the famous photographer and Jesuit military chaplain, wrote the following in a letter expressing his esteem for Fr Doyle. Fr Browne worked closely with Fr Doyle, and these words come from the pen of one who knew Fr Doyle intimately. All during these last months he was my greatest help, and to his saintly advice, and …
August 20, 2016
Fr William Doyle SJ 3 March 1873 – 16 August 1917 My Martyrdom for Mary’s Sake. Darling Mother Mary, in preparation for the glorious martyrdom which I feel assured thou art going to obtain for me, I, thy most unworthy child, on this the first day of thy month, solemnly commence my life of slow martyrdom by earnest hard work and constant self-denial. With my blood I promise thee to keep …
August 16, 2016
The feast of the Assumption was an important feast for Fr Doyle. He made his religious vows on this feast in 1893, and always felt that that Our Lady obtained special graces for him on this day. Perhaps our Blessed Mother will have special graces in store for us as well today? Here is his account of Mary’s protection on August 15th, 1916 (a year before his death) during …
August 15, 2016
Fr Doyle’s last written words I have told you all my escapes, dearest Father, because I think what I have written will give you the same confidence which I feel, that my old arm chair up in Heaven is not ready yet, and I do not want you to be uneasy about me. I am all the better for these couple of days rest, and am quite on my fighting legs …
August 14, 2016
Today we have the last of Fr Doyle’s narratives from his letters home to his father in August 1917, less than a week before his death. In this entry in his letter we see his close brush with death in the form of a shell landing very close to him. Close beside us I had found the remains of a dug-out which had been blown in the previous day and …
August 11, 2016
Fr Doyle, like all of us, had to struggle against his defects. We see an especially vivid example of his struggle in private diary notes written on this day 100 years ago (10 August 1916 – 1 year before his death and one year before the “Behold the Man” episode reported in an earlier posting today). For the past couple of days I have been very unhappy, in bad humour, …
August 10, 2016
Ecce Home: Behold the Man We return today to Fr Doyle’s narrative, and get some glimpse of the horror of war, and the comfort that the presence of a priest can bring to the dying. Of particular note is his reference to Pontius Pilate presenting Jesus to the crowd after the scourging with the words: “Ecce homo” (Behold the Man)… These events occurred on this day in 1917. A sad …
August 10, 2016