15 Facts About Willie Doyle

Willie Doyle is a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church.

Willie Doyle was born in Dalkey, Ireland, the youngest of seven children of Hugh and Christine Willie Doyle.

Willie Doyle was educated at Ratcliffe College, a Catholic boarding school in Leicester, England.

Willie Doyle was ordained a Catholic priest on 28 July 1907.

Willie Doyle then undertook his tertianship at Drongen Abbey, Tronchiennes, Belgium.

Willie Doyle took his final vows on 2 February 1909.

Willie Doyle was an early member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association and had been considered a future leader of the organisation by its founder, Fr James Cullen.

Willie Doyle volunteered to serve in the Royal Army Chaplains' Department of the British Army during the First World War; he was appointed as a chaplain with the 16th Division.

Willie Doyle was assigned to the 8th Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers, and was posted with them to the Western Front.

Willie Doyle was presented with the "parchment of merit" of the 49th Brigade instead.

Willie Doyle was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery during the assault on the village of Ginchy during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Willie Doyle was posthumously recommended for both the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Service Order, but was awarded neither.

Father Willie Doyle's body was never recovered but he is commemorated at Tyne Cot Memorial.

Father Willie Doyle was proposed for canonisation in 1938, but this was not followed through.

Willie Doyle praised Father Doyle in his 1958 memoir Borstal Boy.