"Trench Priest"

The other day, I mentioned that I was reading the biography of Fr William Doyle by Alfred O'Rahilly. Umblepie has drawn my attention to a post on Transalpine Redemptorists at Home: Don't miss this Issue. The "Issue" is the latest issue of their newspaper "Catholic" - but they also mention a book called "Trench Priest" which is an edited version of the full biography.

I got the above photo from the excellent Irish blog, Catholic Perspective, which has a short summary of Fr Doyle's life by Sean Conolly of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association. See: Father Doyle: the Trenches Priest.

The biography of Fr Doyle by O'Rahilly really falls into two parts. In the first, his spiritual life is examined in meticulous detail from papers that he left behind, with strict instructions that they were to be destroyed on his death. His superiors decided that it was better for his papers to be used for his biography and we are much the richer. The last part of the book describes his life as a military chaplain in which his rigorously faithful observance of the traditional Jesuit training flowered in action.

Many favours have been reported through his intercession and perhaps it is a good time to encourage popular devotion to him in the hope that one day he may be raised to the altars.

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