The history of the Irish in America, specifically Irish Catholics in America, is one of creativity. It is one of survival. It is one of faith.
A man who encompasses all of that and more besides is Father Francis Duffy, the most decorated military chaplain in US history.
A statue dedicated to him currently stands in the centre of Times Square in New York City.
Duffy's grandparents left Ireland from Monaghan during the so called ‘Famine’ of the 1840s (which many scholars now believe to be a genocide) and settled in Canada. Duffy was born in Ontario in 1871 and studied for the priesthood in New York, achieving a doctorate in his 30s.
He served in the army as a chaplain during the Spanish American War. When World War I broke out, he joined the 69th Battalion, the regiment which famed as 'The Fighting 69th', composed of Irish Americans. He was said to host long confession lines during the war and would often accompany men onto the battlefield as they reclaimed bodies in No Man's Land.
It was said that at one point, by General McArthur no less, that they even considered making him Commanding Officer. The Irish at this time still suffered greatly from racism and sectarianism in the United States of America, so to have an heroic figure rise through the ranks in such a fashion, especially a Catholic priest, was all the more remarkable.
25,000 people attended his funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1932.
The portion of Times Square now known as Father Francis Duffy Square was dedicated in 1937, not far from where he Ministered in Hell's Kitchen to the Irish community.
He remains the most decorated chaplain in US History, having been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York State), the Légion d'Honneur (France), and the Croix de Guerre.
