Received my appointment from the War Office as chaplain to the 16th Division. Fiat voluntas tua. What the future has in store I know not but I have given Jesus all to dispose of as He sees best. My heart is full of gratitude to Him for giving me this chance of being really generous and of leading a life that will be truly crucified. COMMENT: The above words were …
WWI
November 15, 2023
105 years ago today the First World War came to an end. It was a dreadful war; the first industrial war in which millions were killed, and many more millions were scarred and wounded. As Fr Doyle once wrote: This is a sad, sad war, of which you at home have but the faintest idea. May the good God end it soon. Yet sanctity still shines through in the midst …
November 11, 2023
My offering myself as a war chaplain to the Provincial has had a wonderful effect on me. I long to go and shed my blood for Jesus, and, if He wills it, to die a martyr of charity. The thought that at any moment I may be called to the Front, perhaps to die, has roused a great desire to do all I can while I have life. I feel …
November 10, 2023
Fr Doyle wrote the following in his diary on October 25 1916. It refers to the previous night, in other words, this evening and night 107 years ago. It is worth remembering that at this time Fr Doyle was at the Front. His prayer was conducted in a dug out, not in the relative comfort of a Jesuit house far from violence and death. He obviously found it hard, hence …
October 24, 2023
Pray for all, but especially for sinners, and in particular for those whose sins are most painful to His Sacred Heart. With great earnestness recommend to His mercy the poor souls who are in their agony. What a dreadful hour, an hour tremendously decisive, is the hour of our death! Surround with your love these souls going to appear before God, and defend them by your prayers. COMMENT: It’s almost …
October 9, 2023
I was very much annoyed because because someone burnt the floor of my dug-out and also on finding my candles had been taken. On arriving at Locre I found a second bed in my room and heard that X was coming, This upset and worried me terribly till I realised that all these things were God’s doing and that He wished to annihilate my will, so that I should never …
September 25, 2023
Lieutenant Colonel H. R. Stirke, who commanded the 8th Dublins, had the following praise for Fr Doyle in a note that he wrote on this day in 1917: He was one of the finest fellows I ever met, utterly fearless, always with a cheery word on his lips, and ever ready to go out and attend the wounded and dying under the heaviest fire. He was genuinely loved by everyone, …
September 13, 2023
For fifteen months Fr Doyle and I worked together out here, generally sharing the same dug-outs and billets, we became fast friends. I acting as medical officer to his First Battalion. Often I envied him his coolness and courage in the face of danger; for this alone his men would have loved him, but he had other sterling qualities, which we all recognised only too well. He was beloved and …
September 9, 2023
By cutting a piece out of the side of the trench I was just able to stand in front of my tiny altar, a biscuit box supported on two German bayonets. God’s angels, no doubt, were hovering overhead, but so were the shells, hundreds of them, and I was a little afraid that when the earth shook with the crash of the guns, the chalice might be overturned. Round about …
September 9, 2023
We continue the narrative from O’Rahilly’s biography which recounts the events of September 5, 1916. Please note: this excerpt reveals the true horror of war, and those who are a bit squeamish may prefer to skip the first couple of paragraphs. At last came the expected order to advance at once and hold the front line, the part assigned being Leuze Wood, the scene of much desperate fighting. Fr. Doyle …
September 5, 2023