Letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Provincial Thomas Nolan, 13 May 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Willie Doyle

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Letter from Irish Jesuit Chaplain, Fr Willie Doyle SJ (1873-1917) to Father Provincial Thomas V. Nolan SJ (1867-1941). In this letter, Willie Doyle gives his reaction to the 'dreadful riots' in Dublin, details casualties, gas, leave, Holy Communion and other happenings. Fr Willie Doyle served as a military chaplain with the 8th Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, 16th Irish Division. Within days of his arrival at the Front his bravery was a talking point among officers and men. In April 1916 he was recommended for the Military Cross (MC) for helping to dig wounded men out of a collapsed shelter under fire. He moved to the 8th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers around Christmas, 1916. Although there are differing opinions on his date of death (whether the 16 or 17 August 1917), he was killed during the third battle of Ypres while going to the aid of a wounded man near Frezenberg and his body was never recovered. His name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial, Zonnebeke, Belgium. Fr. Thomas V Nolan (1867-1941) was the Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus (1912-1922) and was a member of the Distribution Committee which looked after the welfare and distribution of the the Belgian refugees who arrived in Ireland as a consequence of the First World War. Dring the Rising Nolan was based at St Francis Xavier’s, Upper Gardiner Street and, alongside Rector Fr John Fahy SJ, risked his life in aiding the wounded and supplying local areas with food and milk.

Irish Jesuit Archives J2/83/62 https://letters1916.ie/item/2579 English Willie Doyle 1916-05-13 British Expeditionary Force, France Hugh Doyle Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin Ireland Male 1917 World War I (1914-1918) World War I (1914-1918)

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 Many thanks to dear Lena for her letter. B. E. Frorce France 13/5/'16 My dear Father, I was on the point of writing to you when your ever welcome letter reached me. A thousand thanks for it (you cannot imagine how welcome your letters are) and also for the papers giving an account of the dreadful riots in Dublin. I am glad I was safe in the trenches during that time, for apparently the Bosches cannot hold a candle to the Sinn Feiners. One good result will follow from what has happened: the ridding Dublin of a most undesirable element which was doing much harm among our ignorant people. Incidentally I am chuckling to myself over those who said that "Retreats for Workingmen" were not needed in Ireland, and I hope the project will be helped by those sad scenes. Since I wrote last we have been back here some miles from the firing line as the men always get a rest after a spell in the trenches. This time they wanted it badly, poor chaps, having had a hard time of it, an experience none of us are likely to forget. Once again we have had all the luck, even with our share of the fighting, for though one regiment of the Brigade is reduced to 200 men the casualties of the 8th Fusiliers only came to a little over 100. As result of our stay here things have been singularly uneventfuly & quiet. They say a war is going on somewhere but it is not easy to realize that at present. I was not sorry to get a little time of rest, for the beastly gas took more out of me than I thought, but I am feeling fit and well again now, thank God, ready for another spell before my trip to "Blighty". I paid a visit recently to another wonder of the war, the church of Vermelles. Little remains of it now, for the town has been held in succession by the Germans, French and ourselves and every yard of ground was lost and won a dozen times. The church is just a heap of ruins; the roof has been burnt, the tower shot away, while the statues, stations etc are smashed to dust, but hanging still on one of the broken walls is a large crucifix absolutely untouched. The figure is a beautiful one, a work of art, and the face of our Lord has an expression of sadness such as I have never seen before. The eyes are open, gazing as it were upon the scene of desolation, and though the wall upon which the crucifix hangs is riddled with bullet holes and shell splinters, the image is untouched save for one round bullet hole just through the heart. The whole thing may be only chance but it is a striking sight and cannot fail to impress one, and brings home the fact that if God is scourging the world as it well deserves He is not indifferent to the sorrows and sufferings of His children. Sunday 14thI was not able to finish this yesterday as the men keep me going scraping their kettles". (I wish mine was half as clean as some of theirs) Between 600 & 700 men were at Holy Communion this morning, the last probably for many of them for we are due back in the trenches tomorrow, though the part we are going to is quiet compared to the last position we held. One cannot help feeling proud of our Irish lads, everyone loves them — the French girls , naturally, that goes without saying, as poor Aunt Polly would have written; the shop- keepers love them for their simplicity in paying about five times the real value of the goods; Monsieur le Curé would hug them each and everyone if he could, for he has been simply raking in the coin these days, many a one putting three and five franc notes in the plate to make up, I suppose, for the trouser buttons of the knowing one, and surely our Blessed Lord loves them best of all for their simple, unaffected piety which brings crowds of them at all hours of the day to visit Him in the Tabernacle. Need I add that the Padre himself has a warm corner in his heart for his boys, as I think they have for him, judging by their anxiety when the report spread that I had got knocked out in the gas attack. They are as proud as punch to have the chaplain with them in the trenches; it is quite amusing to hear them point out my dug-out to strangers as they go by: "That's our priest," with a special stress on the our. Let me end up this note with a little bit of news which I mention because I think it will please and gratify you: I have just been told (unofficially) that my name has been sent on to the Commander-in-Chief for "Mention in Despatches." I hope the Angels have done their work as well and that I shall get a little corner in their report to Head Quarters above. This is only for yourself. Your loving son Willie. British Expeditionary Force, France Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 23 September 1916Letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Provincial Thomas Nolan, 13 May 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 26 October 1916 Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin Ireland Letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Provincial Thomas Nolan, 13 May 1916 Willie Doyle Letter from Father Willie Doyle to Hugh Doyle, 10 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 20 July 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 23 September 1916Letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Provincial Thomas Nolan, 13 May 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 25 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 25 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 1 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 31 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 30 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 15 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Mai, 22 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 25 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 4 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Mai, 11 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 17 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 24 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 29 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 19 June 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 26 October 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J., 16 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 12 December 1915Postcard from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Sister M. Anthony, 7 April 1916