Church makes sainthood case for 'WW1 hero' priest

A "heroic" Irish priest who was killed in World War One while trying to help injured and dying soldiers has taken a step towards potential sainthood.

Fr Willie Doyle served as a British Army chaplain during some of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, including the Somme, Messines and Passchendaele.

The Dubliner was renowned for his courage under fire, repeatedly running into No Man's Land to carry wounded troops to safety or to comfort those fatally injured.

On Sunday, the Catholic Church in Ireland held a special service in Mullingar Cathedral as it prepares to send thousands of documents to the Vatican to support the case for his canonisation.

World War One had been raging for more than a year when Fr Doyle volunteered to become a military chaplain to the 16th (Irish) Division of the British Army.

He served with the division for almost two years, much of that in the trenches at the Western Front, until his death at the Battle of Passchendaele on 16 August 1917.

He was killed by shellfire while going to the aid of two wounded Protestant soldiers, one of whom was a young officer from Belfast - 2nd Lt Arthur Vivian Green.

Because of that, the Catholic Church in Ireland considers Fr Doyle to be an "ecumenical martyr of charity" who died ministering to soldiers of other Christian denominations.

The campaign for sainthood is being led by the Fr Willie Doyle Association, a Dublin-based group comprised mostly of lay people but supported by the clergy.

The group was founded by Patrick Kenny, a business school lecturer who lives a short distance from where Fr Doyle grew up in south County Dublin.

"Fr Willie Doyle lived a life of great heroism and, I would also say, great holiness," Kenny told BBC News NI.

"He was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery at the Battle of the Somme. He was mentioned in despatches on a number of occasions as well."

Kenny set up the association in 2020 after he became "captivated" by Fr Doyle's courage through reading a biography of the late priest.

Born William Joseph Gabriel Doyle in 1873, the future priest had a comfortable, middle-class childhood in the affluent Dublin suburb of Dalkey.

He was sent to a Catholic boarding school in England, but returned to Ireland as a teenager, where by the age of 18 he had begun studying to be a Jesuit priest.

He was in his early 40s when he was sent to the Front as a WW1 chaplain.

Even though it was a non-combatant role, Kenny points out that the commander of the 16th (Irish) Division, Maj-Gen Sir William Bernard Hickie, described Fr Doyle as "the bravest man that he ever met".

He added that Fr Doyle was a prolific letter writer whose personal correspondence has become an important eyewitness source for historians.

"If you look at any book about the Irish in the First World War, almost invariable Fr Willie Doyle is in that book.

"Because of the sheer volume of letters that he sent home, we know a lot about what the Irish soldiers experienced."

Kenny added Fr Doyle was held in great esteem by his own men, but was also noted for his kindness towards injured German prisoners-of-war.

He described the priest as "a servant of peace and reconciliation and a model of true ecumenism"

"In many ways, his life and witness are more relevant to us now than they were 100 years ago."

There are five steps in the process to achieving sainthood in the Catholic Church, some of which can take many years, and this campaign is at a very early stage.

The Fr Willie Doyle Association petitioned the Irish Church to support its proposal for his canonisation, and the Church opened a diocesan inquiry in 2022.

"The Diocese of Meath conducted an extensive investigation - a theological commission studying his writings; a historical commission studying his life," Kenny explained.

It also conducted a "diocesan tribunal" during which experts were interviewed to determine the strength of the religious legacy Fr Doyle inspired among devotees.

"Together all of that documentation comes close to 3,500 pages," Kenny said.

"That documentation will be brought to Rome and then the next phase of the process begins."

This week, the Bishop of Meath Tom Deenihan was filmed adding wax seals to the many parcels of evidence gathered on Fr Doyle, ready for Vatican inspection.

The bishop said the example of an Irish Catholic priest who died serving as a British Army chaplain "has much to offer our own time when nationality and denomination run the risk of polarity".

"Indeed Fr Doyle's spirituality, and example, resonate very much with that of the spirituality of Gen Z," he added.

Members of Fr Doyle's family were invited to join Irish bishops at the ceremony in Mullingar on Sunday afternoon.

The event marked the "final public session of the tribunal of inquiry" after which the last documents will be collated and added to the bundles bound for Rome.

"It's a ritual that's heavily prescribed by church regulation," Bishop Deenihan said.

"The remainder of the documentation, including the minutes of the final [session] itself, will be sealed at the ceremony in the cathedral."

The bishop said it was "an important moment in the life of the Church here in Ireland" and added he was "confident" the case would be successful.