The cause for the canonisation of an Irish First World War military chaplain has entered its Roman phase, in what has been described as a “major milestone”.
Servant of God Fr Willie Doyle SJ was killed while anointing the wounded during the Battle of Langemarck in 1917. It is the first time in Ireland that a canonisation cause has closed its diocesan phase in more than 40 years.
Born in Dalkey, County Dublin, in 1873, Fr Doyle entered the Jesuits at Rahan, County Offaly, in 1891. He volunteered for the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department following the outbreak of the First World War and was assigned to the Royal Irish Fusiliers.
