honorstates.org
CV NEWS FEED // The Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, this month is remembering the heroic life of Chaplain Capt. Philip B. Edelen, a Catholic priest who lost his life while serving in Normandy during World War II.
According to a June 3 news release from the Diocese, Fr. Edelen was a parishioner at then-Sacred Heart Cathedral, now Sacred Heart Church, in Raleigh.
Fr. Edelen was the first parishioner from Sacred Heart to be ordained a priest, the news release noted, “and the only priest from the Diocese of Raleigh to be killed during WWII.”
2024 marks the 80th anniversary of the death of Fr. Edelen, who died on June 10, 1944.
The news release highlighted that in 2017, Rebecca Wicklin, then a student at the local Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, and then-high school teacher Paul Gauthier, worked extensively to contribute to the webpage dedicated to Fr. Edelen through a program sponsored by “National History Day Silent Heroes”
According to Wicklin and Gauthier, Fr. Edelen was born in 1913 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
As a child, Fr. Edelen’s family moved to Raleigh, where Edelen’s family were active members of Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish. Fr. Edelen and his four brothers all served as altar boys at Mass, and his father was the head of the local Knights of Columbus.
After graduating high school, Fr. Edelen entered Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He was ordained a priest in 1940 and spent several years as a pastor at a local parish in North Carolina.
Fr. Edelen eventually joined the military as a chaplain, officially entering the Army Chaplain Corps in February 1943.
“He was assigned as chaplain to the 2nd Infantry Division, 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, where he served his men as a counselor, visiting those in the hospital or in the guard house,” according to Wicklin. “He performed marriages and baptisms, offered Mass, and carried out his other religious duties.”
In October 1943 Fr. Edelen’s unit was moved to Northern Ireland and trained aboard a sea vessel, where he experienced setbacks and obstacles to ministering to the soldiers. Despite these setbacks, Fr. Edelen remained determined to fulfill his duties as a chaplain.
According to Wicklin, during this time Fr. Edelen wrote to his bishop in Raleigh, “I have been able to get to [the units] for Mass, by getting transportation by hook or crook. But I’ve been criticized very much for this and I fear that I’ll be stopped in the future.”
“I never take ‘No’ for an answer and usually get by with it,” he continued. “The other Chaplains marvel at my rashness, but it brings results, which they don’t get…I feel that I’m in this War for one thing to take care of the Catholic men and anything that stops that I might as well quit now.”
Fr. Edelen’s unit was moved to England in April 1944. On June 7, Fr. Edelen and his division arrived on Omaha Beach, where they were met with heavy enemy fire.
By June 9, the 9th Infantry Regiment had moved farther into the country and was able to establish a command post at a farmhouse in the town of Teurteville, France.
Later that evening at about 9:30 p.m. an artillery attack struck the post, severely injuring Fr. Edelen.
“The explosion severed his left leg just below the knee and the concussion from the blast caused a cerebral hemorrhage,” Wicklin wrote. “Captain Edelen died of his wounds at approximately 3:00 a.m. on June 10, 1944.”
On July 23, 1944, a funeral Mass was held in the Diocese of Raleigh for Fr. Edelen. Over 600 people attended.
Wicklin also wrote a eulogy on the webpage for Fr. Edelen, in which she highlighted: “Captain Edelen was dedicated to the spiritual and emotional well-being of the men of his regiment… He served his men, prayed with them, followed them into battle, and ultimately died and is buried with them.”
