Happy Veterans Day! Father Gerald Fitzgerald was a priest, a religious, and a founder but he was also a veteran, having served in the U.S. Army in World War II as a Chaplain. He attained the rank of Captain, and was stationed both in the U.S. as well as the Pacific theater.
As a priest out to save souls, he had already viewed life as spiritual combat especially for the souls of priests. Perhaps his time of Army service added to his already patriotic mindset and determined some of his poetic imagery about warfare.
“One never knows when God will sheath my sword – I don’t care either as long as while I have it in hand it cleaves beneath Saint Michael’s and strikes for the greater glory of Our Eucharistic God.”
This was written just a couple of months before his death. He was buried with military honors on Independence Day, July 4th, 1969