More on Fr. Doyle

The Irish Elk has also posted on Fr. Willie Doyle. He includes a picture. Visitare oportet.

One more story about Fr. Doyle which occured to me just a few moments ago. The story appears in another of Myles Dungan's books, They Shall Grow Not Old: Irish Soldiers in the Great War. The story Dungan tells about Fr. Doyle may very well be apocryphal but he tells it because it accurately reflects the man's reputation. Supposedly some time after the war, a burglar broke into Fr. Doyle's father's house to rob. He rousted the old man and had him open all the cabinets and drawers. In one drawer he came upon a photograph of a priest and asked Mr. Doyle who it was. The old man said it was his son, Fr. William Doyle. The burglar said something like "He was a holy priest; he saved many souls." Then he left the other things he was going to steal and made off with only the photograph.