Bishop Tom Deenihan of Meath has opened the cause for the beatification and canonisation of Irish priest, Fr Willie Doyle, who was killed while serving as a military chaplain in World War I.
The cause will be formally opened in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar on 20 November and Fr John Hogan, a priest serving in Meath diocese, has been appointed as diocesan postulator.
The announcement was welcomed by president of the Father Willie Doyle Association, Patrick Kenny, author of To Raise the Fallen, a selection of letters, prayers and other writings of Fr Doyle. He said the decision was a response to “the wishes of many people, over many decades”.
Fr Willie Doyle volunteered as a military chaplain with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in the First World War from late 1915 until his death in 1917.
He awarded the Military Cross for his bravery at the Battle of the Somme.
Born in Dalkey, Co Dublin in 1873, he was educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicester. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1907 and was killed in action on 16 August 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele while rescuing two wounded Anglican soldiers from Ulster.
His heroism during the war, as well as the holiness of his life in general, led to an outpouring of devotion to him in the years after his death.
According to Patrick Kenny, by the early 1930s more than 50,000 letters testifying to devotion to him were received, more than 6,000 of which alleged favours and healings through his intercession.
Speaking about Fr Willie’s Cause, Fr John Hogan noted that just one Irish person, St Oliver Plunkett, has been canonised in the last 500 years.
“Ireland has many great candidates for sainthood, and Fr Willie Doyle is one of the most fascinating of all. His attractive personality, and his love for God and for others, shines through his writings.”
He said the Jesuit was “a tremendously relevant figure” for the Church today, especially in Ireland. “By offering his life to save wounded Anglican soldiers he became an ecumenical martyr of charity and is an icon of reconciliation and unity in the midst of religious and political division.
“He explicitly offered his life to God in reparation for the sins of priests; this offering has a greater resonance with us now than it did at the time of his death.”
Fr Hogan noted that when Fr Doyle was killed, his few possessions were sent back to Ireland. Among them his crucifix. “He embraced the Cross in his life, he teaches us to do the same.”
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