Father Coyle will be the celebrant at the last mass tomorrow and will address the congregation. He is a young man of scholarly attainments. He was very popular in Mobile, where he filled the position of rector of McGill Institute, and he will doubtless have the hearty co-operation of St. Paul’s congregation.

The Rev. Father Kerrigan, who has been the senior assistant at St. Paul’s for several years, has been appointed as rector of McGill Institute and will leave for Mobile next week to enter upon his new duties. He received formal notification from Bishop Allen yesterday.

Father Kerrigan is one of the younger priests of this diocese and his appointment to the rectorship of McGill is regarded as a very high honor. Father Kerrigan was not only an assiduous student and singularly edifying preacher, but he is a good musician as well. It is probable that he will be called upon to occupy the pulpit of the cathedral frequently and to train the altar choir there. He will be greatly missed in Birmingham.

The second mass is attended by the Sunday school children in a body. While the priest at the altar is saying the mass in Latin in low voice Father Coyle occupies the pulpit and reads prayers and scripture in English. This service, including a short discourse, lasts only 35 or 40 minutes. The theme of Father Coyle at the Sunday mass yesterday was the sign of the cross. He said that all Catholic children were taught to make the sign of the cross properly by first placing the fingers of the right hand on the forehead, then below the breast, then on the left shoulder and then on the right shoulder, saying, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, amen;” but many Catholics, said the priest, become careless and make the sign hurriedly. “Not one person in twenty who enters this church,” he continued, “makes the sign properly.”

Father Coyle then impressed upon his hearers the holy significance of the sign. Catholics should always cross themselves slowly and reverently and repeat the words accompanying the sign in devotional spirit.

Father Coyle delivered a sermon at the last mass. There will be only one mass at St. Paul’s each morning this week and the hour will be 8 o’clock. Father Coyle was quite indisposed yesterday afternoon and on the advice of a physician will not leave his bed for several days.

The Rev. Father Goevert is attending to the mission churches in the Birmingham district.

“I had often remarked the man before I met him, and I had about made up my mind that he was a representative of what university men call ‘the spirit of aloofness’. His face seemed touched with an expression that was a compromise between the scholarly and the ascetic. His whole appearance suggested to me the cloister. Later, however, it was given to me to know him, and I found him to be one of the most direct, versatile, and many sided men of my acquaintance. He reminded me once more that Emerson was right when he said that the real scholar is simple, unaffected, readily accessible and fond of the human things in life.”

“Father Coyle is a native of Ireland, a graduate, I think of Dublin University* and, I know, of the American Colleges at Rome. But a poor fellow unlearned like me, can talk with him all afternoon and never even suspect that he is conversing with a superior person. His clear, wide-open and wide-apart blue eyes, his firm chin, high and noble brow, and the whole contour of his face and head invite confidence, affection and admiration. Divest him out of his clerical dress and you would pick him out in any company as clearheaded, clean-hearted fellow who’d go you for a ten mile walk in the country with a good cigar and a better story at the end of the jaunt.”

*Fr. Coyle attended Mungret College in Limerick where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree.

But those were the days when Catholics were a detestable lot. Those were the days when I got my first taste of organized intolerance. Those were the days of the “escaped nuns” who came to Birmingham and gave lectures to overflow audiences; when a prominent politician published the “Menace” a paper given over to shocking lies and twisted half-truths about the Church; when a prominent furniture dealer spent thousands on newspaper ads to ridicule the Church; when the Ku Klux Klan politicians had the infamous “Convent Inspection” bill passed by the State Legislature.

How well do I remember those days! Days when walking to school some mornings we were never surprised when a child burst out of a house and hollered after us, “Catholics, yah! yah! yah!” in a queer adenoidal voice. And in the summer how we watched the park near our house and stayed out of it if a certain type of child was there because we knew he would start all the other kids razzing us about being Catholics. Early we learned that our best defense was a stony, and we hoped, dignified silence. Perhaps our neighborhood was worse than others, it now being frankly called the slum district, and even 20 years ago, it wasn’t too exclusive.

Stephenson’s Defenders

And in the midst of all this intolerance our dead pastor laid in state for two days, while the curious and the ignorant came and stared at him glad  some of them, that the old priest got what he deserved. The ugly bullet wound, in spite of the undertaker s art, showed plainly over his eye.

And then the funeral, the people who loved him were shoved around and the Divine Presence desecrated by those jibbering, vacant-eyed curious who came to be entertained by the queer “carryings-on” of the Catholics.

And now in the fall came the trial of the killer. It was opened with a feeling of dread among the Catholic people of Birmingham. Crude rumors were spread that the reputation of Father Coyle would be left in sorry shreds after the trial. That not one word against the character or morals of Father Coyle was brought out at the trial, is entirely due to the irreproachableness of his life, and not to any feelings of decency or delicacy on the part of Stephenson s defenders, chief of which was Hugo Black.

And here let me pause to give honor to the late Bishop Allen  that kind, wise, and tolerant gentleman who so admirably held in restraint the more hot-headed element among the Catholics of the state. That was no easy task for resentment and bitterness burned in their souls. Among other things they wanted to engage great legal talent to see to it that Stephenson would not escape the punishment they felt he so richly deserved. But the Bishop would not allow the leaders to concern themselves only to protect Father Coyle s honor.

Dramatic Bombshell

To that end it was felt advisable to locate Ruth Stephenson who in the excitement had disappeared and bring her back to Birmingham. She was found in Tennessee and was asked to return, which she readily consented to. But none of the hotels or rooming houses would take her in, so finally she came to stay at our house. What unbearable excitement for us children! We were made to promise we would tell no one. She and a companion got off the train at Boyle and were drive into the alley in the back of our house so she could come in unnoticed. The weight of our secret was simply odious to us, as everyone, including the newspaper people were wondering aloud as to Ruth s whereabouts. If there was any deceit, or cunning in Ruth Stephenson s makeup, it was entirely unapparent at the time. She seemed filled with great regret and remorse for the tragedy which she precipitated. It was indeed a dramatic bombshell when she appeared one day in the courtroom, but she was never called upon by either side to testify in her father’s trial.

The trial caused great excitement. One little incident stands out in my mind. The courthouse at that time was next door to the rectory and one day a group of us children stood gazing up at its windows during the trial. Some men were sitting in the window and made what we thought was an uncomplimentary remark to us. Some of us shook our fists at them and stuck out our tongues in childhood s ancient act of derision. The next day this episode was mentioned in the papers a we thought ourselves very smart until Sister (now Mother) Annunciate gave us a stern lecture of the virtue of propriety.

Acquitted with Honors

Well, it was over at last, and Stephenson, as expected, was acquitted with honors. And they say that even to this day he can still be seen hanging around the courthouse, now a lonely and un-honored figure, forsaken and despised by those who once were pleased to call him brother.

But the death of Father Coyle was the climax of the anti-Catholic feeling in Alabama. After the trial there followed such revulsion of feeling among the right-minded who before had been bogged down in blindness and indifference that slowly and almost unnoticeably the Ku Klux Klan and their ilk began to lose favor among the people. It took a long time to accomplish this, and the feeling has broken out again periodically at odd times. We know that it will never be entirely wiped out, but today I should venture to say that the Catholics of Alabama enjoy the respect and good will of 85 per cent of the state. Let us not forget the martyred priest, who by his death was the instrument for bringing about in such large degree this happy state of affairs.

Jim Pinto, a founder of the Father Coyle Memorial Project Committee and website, who assisted in arranging the commemoration ceremony, was out of the city and unable to attend. He was represented by his wife, Joy. She recalled her husband’s dramatic encounter with the sacrificial spirit of Father Coyle as she read from his prepared remarks:

I had been struggling for over a year, considering a possible return to the Church of my infancy.

The Roman Catholic Church when I came across a Father Coyle Memorial card at the (Alpha/Catholic Horizons) bookstore. I felt compelled to immediately locate and pray at Father Coyle’s grave at Elmwood Cemetery. Within minutes, I humbly stood before the beautifully strong Celtic cross that honors this holy man and his resting place. I prayerfully introduced myself, prayed and gave thanks for his life and asked his intercession that I might know if I should return to the Catholic Church. Shortly thereafter, I laid down my priestly garments and ministry upon the altar of an Episcopal Church and journeyed home to the Church of my birth and baptism the Catholic Church.

It is our hope that the sharing of the life and death of this holy man may promote greater understanding, reconciliation and peace among all of God’s children.

Father Coyle served as Pastor of St. Paul’s Parish in downtown Birmingham from 1904 until he was assassinated on August 11, 1921 on the front porch of the old parish rectory. The designation of a room in the original John Carroll in memory of Father Coyle was requested by the late Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York when he gave $5,000 to the high school’s initial fund-raising campaign. A native of Drum, Athlone, in County Roscommon. Ireland, Father Coyle came to serve his priestly life in Alabama in 1896 shortly after his ordindation in Rome After serving in parish missions in the Mobile area, he served as Instructor and later as Director of McGill Institute until the late Bishop Edward Allen appointed him as Pastor of St. Parish in Birmingham in 1904. John Wright, Jr. read from the narrative beside the portrait of Father Coyle in the framed commerative display now on exhibit in the John Carroll Library. It reads, in part: During the last years Father Coyle served in Birmingham, there existed a regrettable atmosphere of public anti-Catholic psychological and economic persecution, organized by the Ku Klux Klan and a secret anti-Catholic political society called the True Americans.

Father Coyle was unwavering during this tense period in defending the Catholic Church and what Catholics believe. He was shot by an enraged minister whose daughter’s marriage to a dark-skinned Puerto Rican Father Coyle had presided over less than two hours before he was mortally wounded. May his courage inspire us to love and forgive!

Mr. Wright expressed appreciation to Principal Lee Fisher and Librarian Joyce Sims for their assistance with arrangements for the ceremony.

We trust that by God’s grace the Coyle Project may spawn many valuable undertakings such as:

• The Coyle Library Commemoration Day.
• The FatherCoyle.org interactive website.
• The Fr. Coyle Documentary.
• The re-publishing of Fr. Coyle related writings and the publishing of new works.
• The Father Coyle Society.
• And whatever else our Lord desires for us to do…

Today offers an important glimpse of the gracious gifts the Lord will reveal to many, not least of whom are the precious students, faculty and staff of John Carroll Catholic High School and those who visit here. As this beautiful portrait is unveiled, I am reminded of the words of Saint Nicholas of Cusa who said: In every face is the Face of all faces, veiled and in a riddle. May all who view this portrait of this holy man behold the Face of God. May the lifting of this veil today bear fruit in the conversion of souls to: Christ, His Church and the love of all humanity. We may be assured that the holy life and death of Fr. James E. Coyle will continue to bear much fruit, for his Savior told us:

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.

John 12.24

Sincerely,
Jim Pinto, Jr.
Founding Member of The Father James E. Coyle Memorial Project

What has brought this change? Who is responsible for bringing the crowd of mountebanks to misrepresentthe doctrines of the church, to assail her clergy and malign the Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy and the Benedictine Sisters, the noblest of women in the land?

These disturbers were brought here by politicians and secret societies for their ignoble purposes. These people call themselves true Americans! But they are un-American because they are false to American principles of charity and justice and equality. I realize that these sentiments were not indorsed by the great majority of the city of Birmingham, but they allowed this clique to misrepresent and dishonor them.

Would he have committed this outrageous act if he had known the Catholic Church as she is and the doctrine she teaches and the pure and self-sacrificing life exacted from the ministers? But the people of Birmingham have permitted themselves to be misrepresented, with what result this tragedy! the last chapter of which will be enacted today.

To our Catholic people, I remind them of the duty of prayers for the dead pastor. Father Coyle was a noble, self-sacrificing and devoted priest. Still Almighty God scans the hearts of men and sees blemishes where we see none. Scripture tells us Nothing defiled can enter heaven. It also tells us the It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins.

Father Coyle was your devoted friend in life; do not forget him in death.

Thousands Attend Funeral

Thousands of men and women of all classes and denominations gathered around St. Paul’s church long before the hour of 3 o’clock, which had been fixed for the funeral service, while within the church auditorium every inch of available space, except that which had been reserved for the immediate mourners and members of the escort organizations of the church was taken.

As the organ and choir joined in singing the old-time hymn, Abide With Me: Fast Falls the Eventide, Rt. Rev. Edward P. Allen, bishop of Mobile, with his retinue if priests an assistants, entered from a side entrance in therear of the alter, followed by heads of the various church organizations, and grouped their banners and flags around the coffin, while the American flag was placed in the most prominent position at the head.

The hour of the funeral was set for three o clock on Sunday. The following account is from the daily press:

Just before the bishop began the final prayers, the immediate relatives and close friends of the dead priest entered by the side entrance, crossed the chancel and took their reserved seats, while sobs could be heard and a great hush fell on the audience It was noticed that the voice of the bishop faltered several times during the prayer preceding the sermon of Father Henry, and it was even necessary for him to stop to compose himself sufficiently to proceed.

The funeral sermon was preached by Father Michael Henry, of Mobile:

Father Henry, perhaps more than any other man, was qualified to preach this funeral sermon, for as boys he and Father Coyle had played together. The had gone to Rome and studied in college together, were ordained as priests at the same time, had been designated as missionaries at the same time, came to the United States in the same boat, to Mobile on the same train, labored together for years at Mobile and up to the day of the tragedy which cost Father Coyle’s life, they had been close and intimate friends. But the spirit of charity which, in the face of circumstances, permeated the sermon of Father the Catholics as well as non-Catholics Monday.

You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, was the text of Father Henry’s sermon, and as he opened his final tribute to his friend, he spoke deliberately and very slowly and carefully. There was not the least sign of bitterness, his manner of delivery was calm and yet that tall, white-haired figure in the pulpit won all hearts by the fine sentiments of Christian charity which he expressed even though at times with somewhat broken voice.

Recalls Close Friendship

After referring to the close ties between him and Father Coyle, and their coming together to this country carried here by the same desire to work at the call of Jesus Christ, Father Henry declared he felt this loss most keenly. Though James Edwin Coyle is gone, the memory of his good works will go on forever.

You will remember, dear brethren, the interest Father Coyle took in you, the words he spoke, and if he were with us now it would be his wish that each be faithful to his trust, that we continue steadfast in the faith.

Would any one of you wish Father Coyle were in the place of the unfortunate man who is now in prison with the stain of blood on his hands and soul? Would not any of you rather be in place of poor Father Coyle than in the place of that unfortunate man?

Catholics Dismiss Case

The Catholic Church will say to those who persecute it and its priests of even Jesus Christ himself said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. That is the kind of people we Catholics are. We believe in law and order and the institutions of the land which upholds these.

We dismiss this case as far as we Catholics are concerned, and as Catholics we say, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!

Today, dear brethren, there is sorrow in your heart, and tears in your eyes. Dry your tears, for they are not necessary. We honor him, and the bishop honored him, and the priests were his devoted friends. The people of St. Paul have never failed to respond to any call and if father Coyle were here today he would say, Hold fast to the faith and carry on the work. And I make this appeal to you for the sake of the sacrifice he made for you that you carry on the work. I appeal to the children, to those who are grown up, to the old men and women, to those he loved so much, to pray for his soul. It was a great and noble soul. In your charity pray for the repose of his soul and unite in one solemn prayer that it may enter into the glories of the Lord.

Following the service, which lasted exactly one-half hour, as it had been announced, the request was made that the center aisles be cleared of the multitude which had thronged into them for the service, and after this had been done the choir intoned Lead Kindly Light, the hymn being used as a recessional, and with a priest carrying the cross and accompanied by priests carrying candles, the procession from the church began. The American flag preceded the banner of the Knights of Columbus and these in turn were followed by the bishop and assisting clergy, who were in turn followed by the active pallbearers carrying the casket to the curb.

Traffic Suspended

The immediate family and friends of Father Coyle preceded the honorary pallbearers, Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Charity and Benedictine Sisters, and the various church organizations, including the Yukpa Club, the procession leaving the church doors at 3:35 bound for the Southside Catholic cemetery.

As the procession began all traffic was suspended. Automobiles were still leaving the church when the head of the procession had reached the cemetery, nearly three miles away.

*Fr. Coyle founded The Catholic Monthly while pastor at St. Paul’s in 1909.

The Klan’s presence at Rev. Stephenson’s October 1921 trial was manifest. Historians would later report that the jury foreman and the presiding judge were both Klansmen. Hugo Black himself would join the ranks of the KKK less than two years later to forward his own political aspirations.

On the eve of trial, Rev. Stephenson’s lawyers announced they would amend his plea to “not guilty by reason of insanity” to permit the argument that Rev. Stephenson was not responsible for his actions after he learned Father Coyle had married Ruth to Pedro. The minister and his wife both claimed that “the Catholics” had tried to seduce Ruth away from her Protestant faith; news of their daughter’s marriage was the last straw.

Though little remembered today, Rev. Stephenson’s weeklong trial was a national sensation. Reporters from far-flung cities raced to Birmingham to observe the spectacle. The jury, however, took only a few hours to return their verdict: “Not guilty.”

Catholics in Birmingham have never forgotten the outrage. “It is our hope that the sharing of the life and death of this holy man may promote greater understanding, reconciliation and peace among all of God’s children,” writes James Pinto Jr., a member of Father James E. Coyle Council 9862 and an organizer for the Father James E. Coyle Memorial Project.

Before his death, Father Coyle served as the chaplain of Birmingham (Ala.) Council 635 and was a charter member of Mobile (Ala.) Council 666. He remains a model of faithful and courageous priestly service today.