Your Prayers Please

As you all know, one of my great loves is the communion of Saints, and more often than not this blog concerns itself with the lives of Saints and their role in the life of the Church. Many of you will also know that I am an advocate for the initiation and promotion of Causes for more Irish men and women who have a reputation for sanctity. The Church in Ireland tends to be quite slow in opening Causes, and while we have a few in progress, few have advanced.  Hopefully that will be addressed in the years to come, and to help that a friend and I are co-editing a book on Irish models of holiness which will be published in a couple of months.

Today, I am now asking you to assist us in praying to one of these models of holiness for the healing of a little girl in utero. The parents of this child, already named Eloise Azelie, are praying to Fr Willie Doyle for a miracle, and have asked those who run the Fr Willie Doyle website for prayers; that call for prayer is now being extended throughout the world. A miracle is needed, so I am asking you to please pray to the Lord, through the intercession of Fr Willie specifically for that miracle which in turn may help see his Cause for beatification opened.

Fr Willie's life is well known to many of you; for those who do not know it, please look at his website: fatherdoyle.com. A Jesuit and classmate of Blessed John Sullivan, he lived a life of prayer and austerity while carrying out an extraordinarily fruitful ministry in Ireland and Britain. He was a great preacher and confessor and stories abound of his charity and love of souls. When World War I broke out he discerned a call to offer himself as a military chaplain in order to be with the soldiers as they faced the horrors of war and perhaps, even their death. As a chaplain he was heroic and inspirational, frequently risking his life on the front-line to pull the injured back to the trenches or to administer the Last Rites to the dying. Later, he buried their mangled bodies with the respect and dignity due to the children of God. The soldiers loved him, even the non-Catholics; indeed, among his most fervent admirers were Protestant soldiers from Northern Ireland - after his death the Orange Order honoured him.

Willie was killed on the battlefield as he was tending to dying soldiers, on the 16th August 1917, at Passendaele. His body was never found, it seems a shell fell on it after he had died and it perished. Yet his life, heroism and sacrifice remained fixed in the hearts of the soldiers and all who knew him. Spontaneous devotion sprung up and it has not waned a hundred years later. In the years after his death over 6,000 favours were reported from around the world. His community did consider opening a Cause at the time but for some reason decided to let things lie and leave a decision to future generations. Many of us believe now is the time for Willie's Cause to be opened: he has a message for us in these times and his gentle, fervent yet strong companionship would be a blessing for many many Christians. 

So, please, pray to Fr Willie for little Eloise Azelie; we need a miracle for her, let us ask God to grant it so she will have the blessing of a safe birth and a healthy life, and that God's faithful servant will be raised to the altars. For further details see fatherdoyle.com. There is no official prayer, any prayer will do, but a prayer for private use was approved in 1929 and that may prove useful to you. I reproduce it here, but it is also available, with many other materials on the website.  Thank you, and God bless you! And please, spread the word.

O Jesus, who has given us the example of Your servant, Father William Doyle, graciously grant us the favours we ask You through his intercession…[Pray here for the miraculous healing of Eloise Azélie Holt]

Teach us to imitate his love for You, his heroic devotion to Your service, his zeal for repairing the outrages done to Your Sacred Heart. And, for Your greater glory and the salvation of souls, hear our prayer and grant that the credit we believe He enjoys in Heaven may be recognised solemnly by the Church, so that we may soon be able to venerate him in public worship.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be