Window in Memory of Father Willie Doyle, S.J.

In County Louth
A dear friend of the priory wrote me the other day to say that, thanks to my post on Father Willie Doyle, S.J., on the anniversary of his death, 16 August, she understood the significance of the beautiful window of the Assumption of Our Lady given in his memory in Saint Finnian’s Church, Dromin, County Louth.

Our Lady in the Life of Father Willie Doyle
Father Doyle’s devotion to Our Blessed Lady was profound and all-pervasive. Surprisingly, Alfred O’Rahilly’s masterful biography of Father Doyle does not contain a chapter on his Marian devotion, nor is the Blessed Virgin Mary listed in the Index to Subjects at the end of the book. One must not deduce from this, however, that Our Blessed Lady is absent from the piety of Father Doyle. She is mentioned frequently, as if in passing. The presence of the Blessed Mother is a given. Hers is a hidden presence made more tangible by the ceaseless repetition of her sweet name and the touch of her beads.