Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 24 March 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Willie Doyle

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 Irish Jesuit Archives IE-IJA-J2-83-46 https://letters1916.ie/item/3896 English Willie Doyle 1916-03-24 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, British Expeditionary Force, France Hugh Doyle Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland Male 1917 Faith Faith World War I (1914-1918)

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 Please ask Linn to thank Nellie for her letter received yesterday. 8thRoyal Irish Fusiliers, B. E. Force France. 24 March 1916. My dear Father, Unless I chance upon my imagination I am afraid this letter will prove rather uninteresting, as I have little news to give you, no thrilling "hairs-breath" escapes to account, (possibly because I have had my few remaining locks cut recently), nor can I ever say that thanks to a magnificent piece of horsemanship I escaped a happy dispatch to a better world by jumping over a passing shell. I must only fall back upon a description of my day's work last Sunday, which will show you that, at times at least, I am kept pretty much on the go. I started at seven in the morning by giving Holy Communion to the men whose confessions I had heard the previous evening, a goodly number I am glad to say. This was followed by a number of confessions in French for the townspeople and some French soldiers — I am quite ready to face any language at the present moment. This brought me up to nine when my own Last Mass Parade. By chance the whole regiment were in the village which meant of course that the church would not hold them, so I had arranged for Mass in the open. The spot I selected was a large courtyard in front of the school& whereby hangs a tale. Armed with the Mayor's permission I approached the schoolmaster for his sanction and, I must say, found him most obliging and very gracious, even helping to get things ready. It was only afterwards that I discovered that this man was a red-hot anti-clerical, anti anything that was good in fact, quite a bad lot, so that my request was about the same as asking the Grand Master of the Orange Lodge in Belfast for permission to have Mass in his hall. He was so staggered I suppose, by my innocent request he could not find words to refuse, but the good folk of the town are wild with delight and immensely tickled by the idea of Mass in the porch of his school above all people; needless to say they have rulledit into him well. I had never celebrated Mass in the open air before and I think the men were as much impressed as I was. It was a glorious morning, with just a sufficient spice of danger to give the necessary warlike touch to the picture by the presence of a German airoplane scouting near at hand. I was a nice bit anxious lest a local might come down in Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland Letter 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 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 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 1916 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, British Expeditionary Force, France Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 20 July 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., 16 April 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