William Joseph Gabriel Doyle was born in Dalkey, a suburb of Dublin, in
Ireland on March 3, 1873. He was the youngest of seven children, four
boys and three girls, out of which two boys became Jesuits, another died
a few days before his priestly ordination and one of the three girls
became a Sister of Mercy: four vocations out of seven children. He
entered the Jesuit Novitiate at the age of 18 after reading St.
Alphonsus' book "Instructions and Consideration on the Religious State".
Soon after his ordination in 1907, his superiors appointed him on the
mission staff for five years. From 1908 to 1915, he gave no less than
152 missions and retreats. His fame as preacher, confessor and spiritual
director spread wide and far, and he had a special gift to hunt out the
most hardened and neglected sinners and to bring them back with him to
the church for confession.