Patrick James Ryan (3 December 1902 – 5 June 1978) was an American major general and

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

who served as the 9th

Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army The chief of chaplains of the United States Army (CCH) is the chief supervising officer of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. (Chaplains do not hold commanding authority.) From 1775 to 1920, chaplains were attached to separate units. The Office of t ...

from 1954 to 1958. Only briefly serving in a parish after his ordination for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in 1927, he entered the Army Reserve as a chaplain in 1928. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in North Africa and Italy where he earned numerous honors and awards, including appointment as an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. After the war, he held various roles at

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

and at the Sixth Army in San Francisco before becoming Chief of Chaplains in 1954. At the time of his appointment he was the youngest man to have held the role, at 51 years old.

Early life and education

Ryan was born in Manannah Township, Minnesota, near Litchfield, on 3 December 1902. He attended high school at Saint Thomas Military Academy, graduating in 1919. He graduated from the

College of St. Thomas The University of St. Thomas (also known as UST or simply St. Thomas) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university with campuses in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Fo ...

and the

Saint Paul Seminary The Saint Paul Seminary (SPS) is a Catholic Church, Catholic major seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. A part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, SPS prepares men to enter th ...

and became an ordained

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in 1927. He served briefly as a parish priest at St. Helena's in Minneapolis before entering the military as a chaplain.

Military career

Ryan joined the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

and was commissioned as a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

in April 1928. As a reservist, he was first assigned to

Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint An ...

. In December 1928, he was assigned to

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

until February 1929, when he was assigned to

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

. In 1932, he was assigned to

Fort Shafter Fort Shafter is a census-designated place Page 4/ref> located in the City and County of Honolulu, Hawai‘i. It is the headquarters of the United States Army Pacific, which commands most Army forces in the Asia-Pacific region with the exceptio ...

as chaplain to the 64th Coast Artillery. In August 1935, he was assigned as the chaplain of Walter Reed Hospital where he remained until October 1939 when he returned to Fort Shafter and

Fort Kamehameha Fort Kamehameha was a United States Army military base that was the site of several coastal artillery batteries to defend Pearl Harbor starting in 1907 in Honolulu, Hawaii. History The eastern areas of the fort were in the district called Moanal ...

. He also assisted in organizing the first Army chaplain corps in Brazil.

World War II

In November 1941, Ryan was assigned as the chaplain of the 3rd Infantry Division. He was deployed to

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, landing on 8 November 1942, as part of

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

. In the spring of 1943, Ryan was reassigned to the Fifth Army and served in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He participated in the

Operation Avalanche Operation Avalanche was the codename for the Allied landings near the port of Salerno, executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy during World War II. The Italians withdrew from the war the day before the invasion, but ...

landings at

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

. On Christmas Eve, 1943, he was promoted to the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

. After participating in the

liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that commenced January 22, 1944. The battle began with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle, and ended on June 4, 1944, with the liberation of Rome. T ...

in June 1944, Ryan celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving attended by 10,000 people at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, with Cardinal

Eugène Tisserant Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant (; 24 March 1884 – 21 February 1972) was a French prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Elevated to the cardinalate in 1936, Tisserant was a prominent and long-time member of the Roman Curia. ...

, secretary of the Sacred Oriental Congregation, presiding. Along with other military officials, he was received in audience by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

on 7 June 1944. Ryan prepared altars and coordinated with German priests to have Mass offered for the 500,000 German POWs in Italy.

Post-war

Ryan returned from overseas in July 1945, and began serving in

in September as director of plans and training in the office of Chief of Chaplains. During that time, he was named the

Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army The Deputy Chief of Chaplains (DCCH) serves as the chief strategist for the Chaplain Corps (United States Army), U.S. Army Chaplain Corps and senior coordinating general officer for actions assigned to Assistant Chiefs of Chaplains (Reserve Compon ...

in March 1946 and served in that role until September 1948. In June 1947, he was named a

monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

of the rank

domestic prelate Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

by Pope Pius XII. From September 1948 to 1952, he was chaplain to the Sixth Army in San Francisco. He was again named deputy chief in 1952, and was made brigadier general in 1953.

Chief of Chaplains

On 18 March 1954, President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

nominated Ryan as the 9th Chief of Chaplains with the rank of major general. Ryan was visiting troops in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

at the time. He was sworn in on 1 May 1954, with the rank of major general. At the age of 51, he was the youngest to ever hold the role. During his time as Chief of Chaplains, Ryan established a 16-week "postgraduate" course for senior chaplains. He stated that a chaplain must not be "some effete busybody or do-gooder... nor a religious recluse living in an ivory tower. He is a virile, fully-trained specialist." His tenure as chief of chaplains was reported to have "vastly improved" the chaplaincy corps and "achieved the best approach to an all-around religious program" in the history of the Army. He was called both a "chaplain's chaplain" and a "soldier's soldier". With the size of the army decreasing after the war, Ryan sought to increase chaplain numbers, especially in the

and

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

, to maintain higher proportions if the need rose again. He retired as chief of chaplains on 30 October 1958.

Later years

After his retirement from the military, Ryan authored a book published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

entitled ''A Soldier Priest Talks to Youth'' that covered the topics of smoking, drinking, sex, and other relevant topics for adolescents. He also served as the executive vice president of the ''

Catholic Digest ''Catholic Digest'' was an American Roman Catholic monthly magazine founded in 1936. By the 1950s ''Catholic Digest'' was publishing articles by such well-known Catholic authors as Fulton J. Sheen, Frank Sheed and Dorothy Day. In 2016 it was re ...

''. He served as chaplain of the

Military Order of the World Wars The Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW) is an American social organization of military officers of the United States and their descendants. It was created in 1919 as the Military Order of the World War at the suggestion of General of the Armie ...

and Grand Prior of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. He was made a protonotary apostolic by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

in 1967 and died on 5 June 1978, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He was one of four alumni of the

in St. Paul, Minnesota, to become the

, the other three being

Francis L. Sampson Francis Leon Sampson (29 February 1912 – 28 January 1996) was an American Priesthood in the Catholic Church, Catholic priest and military officer who served as the 12th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army from 1967 to 1971. A World W ...

, Patrick J. Hessian, and Donald W. Shea.

Awards and decorations

Awards Ryan received include the following:

Dates of rank

Ryan's dates of rank were:

Notes

References

External links

Collection: Msgr. Patrick J. Ryan Papers , Special Collections and University Archives at the University of St. Thomas Libraries

Rev Msgr Patrick James "Pat" Ryan (1902–1978) – Find a Grave Memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Patrick 1902 births 1978 deaths United States Army generals Chiefs of Chaplains of the United States Army Deputy chiefs of Chaplains of the United States Army United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War World War II chaplains Korean War chaplains Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) alumni Saint Paul Seminary alumni People from Meeker County, Minnesota Catholics from Minnesota 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Military personnel from Minnesota Catholic military chaplains 20th-century Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Honorary officers of the Order of the British Empire