Fr. Francis Duffy: Hero Chaplain of World War I

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

History, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Father Francis Duffy was a priest of New York who started as an educator at St. Joseph seminary at Dunwoodie, in Yonkers, New York, before he was made founding pastor of Our Savior Parish in the Bronx. He also volunteered to be an Army chaplain, and was assigned to the New York 69th regiment, known as the Fighting 69th and the "Fighting Irish." With the 69th he was deployed to fight in World War I, where he acquitted himself well, and was beloved of his men and revered by his peers and superiors. After the War he returned to being a parish priest in New York City, as pastor of Holy Cross parish on West 42nd Street, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. There he was a true pastor to the workers of all sorts, even getting permission from the Vatican to offer a Mass at 2:15 a.m. on Sundays for those workers who could not make the regularly scheduled Sunday Mass times. He died in 1932, and just five years later a monument to him was erected in Times Square, just blocks from Holy Cross Parish.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic History, brought to you by the support of listeners like you.
0:11.0	If you like this podcast and would like to support our work, please visit American Catholic History.org
0:17.5	slash support. I'm Noelle Heister Crowe. And I'm Tom Crow. Today we're talking about the most
0:23.7	decorated military chaplain in U.S. history, the great Father Francis Duffy. The subtitle of this
0:31.1	episode could be, who's that Catholic priest statue in Times Square? I know, right? It's something of a
0:36.7	whiplash moment, but there he is.
0:38.7	Anyone who's been to Times Square over the past 20 or so years knows how just out of place that
0:43.9	sounds. Time Square is a virtual cathedral to consumerism. Nearly every square inch of the buildings
0:49.8	along that long diagonal intersection is covered by illuminated signage, most of it either
0:55.3	flashing or animated in some way.
0:57.3	It's all so bright that even during the day, the artificial lights illuminate things beyond
1:01.7	just what the sun does.
1:03.3	The place should really come with a warning label.
1:05.5	And that's not even to mention the craziness of New Year's Eve, the largest and most
1:10.2	famous annual party on
1:11.6	earth. Hundreds of thousands throng into Times Square to ring in the New Year and watch the
1:16.5	ball drop at the south end of the square. But at the northern end of Times Square, in a portion
1:21.1	called Duffy Square, a 17-foot-tall monument with an eight-foot-tall statue of a Catholic priest has stood since 1937.
1:30.6	That priest is Father Francis Duffy.
1:33.3	In the statue's depiction, he is wearing the leggings and long coat of a World War I officer.
1:38.5	But instead of a rifle in his hands, he holds a Bible.
1:41.3	His eyes look forward, and his face has a resolute and serene look.
	...

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