Willie Doyle SJ - Much in the Presence of God

Willie Doyle SJ, Much in the Presence of God, by Patrick Corkery SJ. Messenger Publications

The year was 1958, the month September, when I joined 39 others, all youthful aspirants, to begin our missionary journey. We were ' Probationers' - beginners, and we had a special section of the seminary to ourselves...referred to as ' Proboland'.

We had our own dormitories, our own chapel, our own refectories, our own library....our own everything. The library is what concerns me here. Our spiritual master was the person mainly responsible for our formation . He advised us early on that we should go to the library and choose a spiritual book for our reading during the month of October. Why October ? because that was the month of the 30 days retreat ... All silence and prayer. From the library we were to choose a spiritual book and bring it to the spiritual master for approval. If we could not find a book suitable ...he would choose one for us..

I had never read a spiritual book in my life and so I struggled to find a meaningful one. I was about to give up my search when I got lucky. I took down from a shelf a volume - a little bit bulky - which had a title ' Father William Doyle SJ' by Alfred O'Rahilly. The thing was I had not a clue who William Doyle was but I had heard of Alfred O'Rahilly. He was a very learned Corkman who was a professor at University College Cork. I being a fervent Corkman went off to my spiritual master with Alfred O'Rahilly and Willie Doyle under my arm and the rest, as they say, is history.

Willie Doyle instantly became a hero. During our October retreat the only news we got from our spiritual master was that Pius XII had gone to heaven and that his successor was John XXIII. So apart from that Willie Doyle and Alfred O'Rahilly became my constant companions. Before the end of that year more had read the book and come to admire Willie Doyle. Sadly we were informed -whether clerical gossip or not - that Willie Doyle's case for canonisation had been turned down by Rome. One of the reasons given was that Rome had problems with his self - mutilation. Granted that Rome has to be very cautious with such matters, it seem harsh and we were disappointed at the time. Willie Doyle became a memory and those of us who persevered scattered to the ends of the earth to do what missionaries do..

So you can imagine what a joy and surprise to be asked to comment on Fr Corkery's work and the news that Willie Doyle's case was being promoted. All the memories of 1958 came flooding back. Fr Corkery gives us an excellent summary in a well researched work but much has to be done.

The world has changed. Ireland is different to Willie Doyle's day. And of course the Catholic Church has and is changing with great urgency as it must. Intercourse of the mind - as I prefer to call it- is bewildering. Social media is one of the staggering realities facing humanity.

When I went to Africa as a missionary we often had to wait weeks or even months for letters from home. Recently I contacted my cousin who is a missionary in Africa in ten seconds and we discussed the church home and abroad.

Willie Doyle was a complex man. Like all of us he had his problems. He had a deep anxiety and was not very accepting of his inner self. His sense of his own worth was low if not nil and this he struggled with all his life and especially coming up to ordination. But, and this is crucial, he persevered with great prayer and deep faith. He became what a saint is or should be..a fully mature human being in Christ.

What did those ' Protestant Orangemen ' see in Willie Doyle in the Hell of the trenches? After all they rejected everything a Roman Catholic stood for. The Mass and the saints they called...Hocus Pocus and had no trust whatever in Catholic priests. But they trusted Willie Doyle in life and death. Simply put...they saw in Willie a great human being and a great human being with Love in his heart - a Saint.

Perhaps Thomas Merton puts it best. " the real meaning of our life is to develop people who really love God and who radiate love, not in a sense that they feel a great deal of love, but that simply are people full of love who keep the fires of love burning in the world. For that they to be...fully themselves--real people." (Thomas Merton in Alaska.)

Such was Willie Doyle.

Willie Doyle SJ, Much in the Presence of God, by Patrick Corkery SJ is available from Messenger Publications