On August 12 1917 Fr Doyle sent his last letter home to his father. It was a long account of his involvement in the early stages of the Battle of Passchendaele. 5 days later he was hit by a German shell while rescuing a wounded soldier and was killed instantly. His account of the battle commences on July 30 and we shall follow his account in his own words each …
WWI
July 29, 2011
Fr Emil Kapaun A beatification cause similar to that of Fr Doyle’s is making excellent progress and the documentation has just been sent to Rome. Fr Emil Kapaun was a chaplain in the Korean War. Like Fr Doyle, he risked his life to save wounded soldiers and to bring the sacraments to them. Just like Fr Doyle, this initiative cost him his life. As a result of his dedication he …
July 6, 2011
The Birth of St John the Baptist Today the Church celebrates the feast of the birth of St John the Baptist. Fr Doyle does not seem to have written about St John very much, but in one letter to his sister, a nun, written on 19th December 1916, he alludes to the similarities between the harshness of his own life and that of St. John’s. The letter is worth …
June 24, 2011
Perhaps some people in the US will end up here today, Memorial Day, when researching military chaplains. If you arrive here for the first time today, welcome! Watch this short video for a brief introduction to the life and spirit of Fr Willie Doyle, a rock solid military chaplain and heroic “martyr” of charity. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydTDIPkClwg]
May 30, 2011
Dear Sir — One is often struck, on glancing over the papers, at the numerous appeals made to provide ‘comforts for our troops,’ but no one ever seems to think that the souls of those who have fallen in battle may possibly be in need of much greater comfort than the bodies of their comrades who survive . With all the spiritual help now at their disposal, even in the …
May 26, 2011
One German prisoner, badly wounded in the leg, was brought in. He knew only a few words of English, but spoke French fluently. I try to do all I can for the unfortunate prisoners, as sometimes not much sympathy is shown them, and they have evidently been drilled into believing that we promptly roast and eat them alive. I gave him a drink, made him as comfortable as possible, and …
May 24, 2011
I am continuing to work through the rather large pile of corrections that sit before me. However, in an attempt to get back to normal, here are Fr Doyle’s reflections on the incidents that happened on this day in 1917. Once again, his balance and good humour are remarkable. The enemy for once did me a good turn. I had arranged to hear the men’s confessions shortly before he opened …
May 22, 2011
We continue today with an excerpt from the original letter detailing some of the work Fr Doyle had to undertake towards the end of April, 1916. After these stressful days were ended, Fr Doyle 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 …
April 28, 2011
Fr Doyle send the letter below to his father one year after the gas attack of April 1916 (see yesterday’s post). In this letter, he reveals more details of what had happened on April 26-28 1916. It seems to have been an even closer scrape with death than he had let on in the original letter, and he seems to have held off telling his father about it in …
April 27, 2011
Fr Doyle had many incredibly close shaves with death during the almost 2 years he spent as a military chaplain. He has recorded many of these in his diaries and in the letters he sent home to his father. One of these dramatic moments occurred on the night of April 26 and early morning April 27 1916. Here is an excerpt from a letter home to his father which …
April 26, 2011