Fr. James Coyle

The front porch of Fr. Coyle's rectory

Fr. James Coyle, a College Alumnus who “Gave Till It Hurt”

REV. KEVIN BAZZEL ‘01, C‘06 AND DANIEL SESSIONS ‘23, DIOCESE OF BIRMINGHAM IN ALABAMA

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Father James Edwin Coyle, a seminarian of the College’s class of 1896. Born in Ireland on March 23, 1873, he began his preparation for the priesthood at Mungret College near Limerick and later transferred to the College to complete his priestly formation. On May 30, 1896, Fr.

Coyle was ordained to the priesthood in Rome at the age of twenty-three and soon was off to what was then the Diocese of Mobile in Alabama to begin his priestly ministry. In 1904, Fr. Coyle was appointed pastor of Saint Paul’s parish in Birmingham, Alabama. Fr. Coyle was the most ardent defender of the Catholic faith in Birmingham. His homilies often extolled the virtue of receiving Holy Communion frequently and of fostering a devotion to the Blessed Mother. He wrote many columns for the Birmingham newspaper in attempts to dispel false understandings of the teachings of the Church.

Courthouse, old church, rectory, new church construction, circa 1891

1896 Class Photo

In the courthouse next to Saint Paul’s served Rev. Edwin Stephenson, a Methodist minister who was the “Marrying Parson,” who performed wedding ceremonies there. His daughter Ruth was fascinated with Catholicism, and once even was caught by her father speaking with Fr. Coyle on the front porch of the rectory. When Ruth turned eighteen in the Spring of 1921, she was received into the Church to the manifest ire of her father, a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

In June 1921, Pedro Gussman, a Catholic Puerto Rican migrant, proposed to Ruth, and she accepted. The couple had hoped to marry in secret to avoid her father’s fury. Unable to find another priest available, however, they returned to Saint Paul’s and were married there on August 11, 1921, assisted by Fr. Coyle.

Enraged, Rev. Stephenson found Fr. Coyle sitting on the front porch of the rectory praying the Divine Office early that same evening. Rev. Stephenson walked up the steps of the porch, approached Fr. Coyle, and shot him three times. After this, Rev. Stephenson walked next door to the courthouse, where he turned himself in. Fr. Coyle was taken to nearby Saint Vincent’s Hospital, where he subsequently died, but not before receiving Last Rites. Thousands participated in Fr. Coyle’s funeral; Fr. Michael Henry, Fr. Coyle’s childhood friend and later classmate at the College, preached the homily at the Mass on the theme, “You have not chosen me; I have chosen you.”

Rev. Stephenson’s trial took place in the courthouse adjacent to the site of the crime. His attorney was Hugo Black, future U.S. senator and Supreme Court justice. Even though there were witnesses to the shooting, Stephenson was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The argument was that the he had become temporarily insane, blaming Fr. Coyle for his daughter’s conversion to Catholicism and her marriage to the dark-skinned Gussman.

Fr. Coyle and Fr. Henry

On Ash Wednesday of 2011, United Methodist Bishop William Willimon presided over a service of repentance at Highlands United Methodist Church in downtown Birmingham, having learned that the Methodist Church did not discipline Rev. Stephenson following the murder. Fr. Coyle’s zealous and steadfast ministry lives on through the convictions of the faithful of the city and the Diocese, and through the memory of this holy priest, a son of the College.

Fr. Coyle in front of his rectory

One hundred years ago this year, on August 7, 1921, the Sunday before he was killed, Fr. Coyle was making the parish announcements. His last announcement was regarding a pledge drive for the local orphanage. He encouraged the people to give generously to this noble cause. The final words of Fr. Coyle to the parishioners that Sunday referred to the drive, but they also prophetically summarize his entire priestly life: “Give. Give till it hurts. Then and only then is there sacrifice.” n

Fr. Coyle written announcement, August 7, 1921.