Patrick James Ryan (3 December 1902 – 5 June 1978) was an American major general and Catholic priest who served as the 9th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army 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 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. After the war, he held various roles at the Pentagon 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.
Ryan returned from overseas in July 1945, and began serving in the Pentagon in September as director of plans and training in the office of Chief of Chaplains.[12][1] During that time, he was named the Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army in March 1946 and served in that role until September 1948. In June 1947, he was named a monsignor of the rank domestic prelate by Pope Pius XII.[13] From September 1948 to 1952, he was chaplain to the Sixth Army in San Francisco.[13] He was again named deputy chief in 1952, and was made brigadier general in 1953.[1][13]
Chief of Chaplains
On 18 March 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Ryan as the 9th Chief of Chaplains with the rank of major general.[13] Ryan was visiting troops in Korea at the time.[14] 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.[15][16]
During his time as Chief of Chaplains, Ryan established a 16-week "postgraduate" course for senior chaplains.[17] 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."[17] 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.[12] He was called both a "chaplain's chaplain" and a "soldier's soldier".[12] With the size of the army decreasing after the war, Ryan sought to increase chaplain numbers, especially in the United States Army Reserve and National Guard, to maintain higher proportions if the need rose again.[18] He retired as chief of chaplains on 30 October 1958.[7]
^While current liturgical vernacular commonly uses the terms "celebrating" and "presiding" interchangeably, "presiding" may be used in a more technical sense wherein a prelate attends the Mass in choro and is not the one offering the Mass.[10]
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