Fr. J.J. O’Gorman a hero of the Somme

The reams of literature chronicling and contextualizing the Battle of the Somme during the First World War illuminate several overarching themes.

One was the devastating level of human carnage. Over one million people were killed, wounded or went missing during this 141-day campaign from July 1 to Nov. 18, 1916, fought in the Picardy region of northern France on both sides of the River Somme. There were 24,000 Canadian and Newfoundland soldiers killed, wounded or missing.

Second, this confrontation definitively shaped the aesthetic of First World War combat. The trench warfare, barbed wire, waves of artillery and industrial-scale attrition for relatively little territorial gain (11 kilometres for the British and French) were brutal realities that shattered any previous romantic concepts of war in the public psyche.

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Thirdly, the battle spawned innovations such as armoured tanks and tactics like the creeping barrage, infantry advancing behind a wall of artillery fire meant to subdue German machine gunners.

Yet there is a lesser-heralded but paramount historical dimension of the British and French Somme Offensive of special significance for military chaplains. This was the battle where padres won the freedom — soon developed into an expectation — to accompany the troops to the front lines, in the trenches and even in No Man’s Land. They wore down army bureaucracy and convinced them they had a role to play.

“The war began with a general order to restrict them from the front line because of the fear that a wounded chaplain would be bad for morale,” said Duff Crerar, a military historian who authored Padres in No Man’s Land: Canadian Chaplains and the Great War. “But what the chaplains said is that a wounded chaplain who could prove that he served with the men was someone who could actually increase morale. That certainly proved itself at the Somme. There were casualties, and some real distinctions of heroism among the chaplains at the front.”

Meet Fr. John Joseph O’Gorman (1884-1933), a Roman Catholic priest and military chaplain from Ottawa who ultimately served as an honorary captain of the 199th Infantry Battalion (Irish-Canadian) Rangers.

It was inevitable that his voice would resound loudly during his time in the Canadian Chaplain Service (CCS) as he accrued a reputation both from the pulpit and in print as being an ardent supporter of Canadian military involvement in the First World War as soon as it broke out in August 1914. His speeches espousing why the war was both a patriotic and religious duty were heavily chronicled in the Catholic press, including The Catholic Register. His remarks were particularly meant to stir resolve among Canada’s Irish Catholics.

O’Gorman, who founded Blessed Sacrament Church in Ottawa on March 25, 1913, 17 days after his 29th birthday, expressed his own willingness to answer the call to service in a Nov. 4, 1915, letter addressed to Ottawa Archbishop Charles Gauthier.

“In this warlike time, it is difficult for a young priest to know whether he would render a greater service to God and country as an overseas Chaplain than as a parish priest at home,” wrote O’Gorman. “While I am unable to decide the question in my own case, I wish to assure Your Grace that if now or any other time during the war, you wish my services as an army chaplain, I shall be ready at a moment's notice.”

Gauthier granted O’Gorman his blessing to enlist in late January 1916. He sailed for England in March and was first assigned to the Canadian Red Cross Hospital at Taplow, a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, along the left bank of the River Thames.

His moment of heroism at the front would occur on Sept. 6, 1916, amid a Somme engagement known as the “Battle for Mouquet Farm.” Serving as an honorary major with the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division, he actively assisted with evacuating wounded soldiers from no man’s land. While carrying one of the wounded, he was struck with the shrapnel of a German whiz-bang (high-velocity artillery shell). According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, “the hot metal tore into his legs and shattered his left shoulder, elbow and wrist.”

Fr. Wolston T. Workman, a Roman Catholic priest who served as Senior Catholic Chaplain for the Canadian forces, wrote to HQ Corps in Montreal on Sept. 7, one day following O’Gorman being wounded.

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“I am sorry beyond words to have to report that Fr. J. J. O'Gorman was wounded yesterday,” wrote Workman. “He has a compound fracture of his left arm & several small flesh wounds in his body. He received them gloriously, braving a wounded poor fellow. I called his father but said it was not serious. Of course it may mean the loss of his arm. It is a dreadful loss to us. He was so excellent a priest & worker.”

O’Gorman did suffer repeated bouts of infection, and he did come close to requiring amputation. He returned home in December 1916 and convalesced in Ottawa General Hospital under the care of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa and would regain partial use of his arm.

“He was wrestling with the question of whether he'd be able to serve Mass when his hands were so badly damaged,” shared Crerar. “But he discovered that he had another vocation, which was to organize and lead the (Catholic Army Huts Association).”

In coordination with the Knights of Columbus, this association established spiritual, recreational and social facilities for Canadian military personnel throughout England. Over $1 million was collected from both Catholics and Protestants for troops overseas. He would return to the European theatre on Nov. 26, 1917, as his acumen for fundraising and building projects was needed.

But there was one more battle he needed to fight before returning overseas. He learned during his convalescence how Catholic chaplains were being mistreated by Protestant commanding officers.

“O’Gorman was quite intrepid,” said Crerar. “He was willing to take on military authority and stand up for the rights of Catholics. He was a pipeline to the bishops and the Minister of Justice Charles Doherty. It was his intervention that achieved equal representation and equal privileges for Catholic chaplains.

“The sling for his arm gave him special weight when he got back to Ottawa,” continued Crerar. “He could walk into a cabinet minister’s office and present the case for his brother priests when actually wearing a sling that indicated he served to the point of being hit by shellfire himself.”

For a long time, the simple act of shaving would present difficulties. The razor would catch on his face as microscopic bits of shrapnel were still working their way out of his skin and would get caught in the blade.

O’Gorman would undergo surgery late in 1932 to remove the shrapnel, but in April 1933, he was rushed to Ottawa General Hospital for an emergency appendectomy and would pass away at age 49 on April 24 because of complications from the operation, likely stemming from old war injuries.

He spent much of his post-war years serving Blessed Sacrament, building schools, volunteering and enriching the Ottawa Catholic community and wider society by bringing in the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and establishing the Ottawa Boys Club. The Officer of the Order of the British Empire was hailed at his death by the Ottawa Citizen as “one of Canada’s most brilliant English-speaking Catholic priests.”

The voice of O’Gorman and other brave chaplains raised before the Somme created ripples that resound to this day. Accompaniment to the most treacherous of combat environments was the accepted, unquestioned norm right from the start of the Second World War.

The relationship of consummate trust and openness that routinely develops between soldier and chaplain continues to carry special weight to this day. Chaplains are comforting and spiritually aiding the wounded — and their loved ones — of the mass casualty fire at CFB Wainwright.

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And what about that Catholic Huts Association launched by O’Gorman during his convalescence?

That initiative was a key moment in the transformation of the Knights of Columbus from a localized society into the global relief force that it is today.

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)

A version of this article appeared in the November 08, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "Fr. J.J. O’Gorman a hero of the Somme".