On the Titanic

Fr Thomas Byles and the sinking Titanic

Among the 1500 souls who drowned in April 1912 on the Titanic was Fr Thomas Byles, an ex-Anglican priest who had become Catholic in 1902. Fr Byles was among the co-founders of the Catholic Missionary Society. He was on his way to the USA to marry his brother William in Brooklyn, NY. There were two other priests on the ship, Fr Joseph Peruschitz, a German Benedictine monk, and Fr. Jouzas Montvilla from Lithuania. The Titanic left shore on April 10, and on April 14, the Sunday after Easter, Fr Byles was prophetic in his homily during Mass on board: “In case of a spiritual shipwreck, we need to have close to us the lifeboat of religious consolation.” When the iceberg hit, he was praying the breviary and quickly went to help the woman and children get into the lifeboats. He refused to go in one of them to give a chance to others. In his book : ”The Maiden Voyage,” Geoffrey Marcus wrote that some people were praying on their knees, and on deck, there was Fr Byles praying the Rosary, hearing confession and giving absolution to people. With him was Fr Peruschitz. In the early hours of April 15, while the Titanic was slowly sinking, Fr Byles had around 100 people around him, saying the Rosary together, just before the raging waters devoured them. Fr Byles’ brother and his bride Katherine Russell celebrated a quiet wedding. They later had an audience with Pope Pius X at the Vatican, who described Fr Byles as a martyr.