rock or iceberg

ancestral

​Thomas R. D. Byles (Feb. 26, 1870 – Apr. 15, 1912), an English Catholic priest, was a passenger aboard the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage when it sank after striking an iceberg during the night.

Byles was walking on the upper deck praying his breviary when the Titanic struck the iceberg. As the ship was sinking, he assisted many third-class passengers up to the boat deck to the lifeboats.

Toward the end he recited the Rosary and other prayers, heard confessions, and gave absolution to more than a hundred passengers who were trapped at the stern of the ship after all the lifeboats had been launched. This would be an absolution in an emergency for all of them who felt or expressed sorrow for sin, regardless of religion or none or the past.

BTW - St. Patrick was born not in Ireland, but in the west of Britain, Wales.