You can never tell where a vocation will come from, and in Florida Catholic this week there’s a stirring story of a young boy whose life was shaped by one memory of an uncle who was a military chaplain during World War II:

If anything will make an impression on a young lad growing up in Ireland during the mid-1940s, high up on the list would probably be a bullet hole in a breviary.

Three of Msgr. Michael Devine’s uncles were military chaplains, and when they came back from war, he heard all their stories: the last rites for the dying in the battlefield, saying Mass to hundreds of troops, and, of course, “the” story. One of his uncles had his breviary in his overcoat covering his heart, when an enemy’s bullet struck the prayer book, which contains the Liturgy of the Hours and petitions priests recite daily. The breviary deflected the bullet from his body, leaving him unharmed.

Msgr. Devine, pastor of St. Brendan’s Parish in Clearwater, recalled that story during a Mass on Nov. 3 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.

“I thought the priesthood was a very exciting life,” he said.

Bishop Robert N. Lynch attended the Mass and saluted the 76-year-old Msgr. Devine.

“Thank you for your fidelity, for your loyalty to your church,” Bishop Lynch said at the end of the Mass. “We thank you for the wonderful gentleness and humor of your ministry. We thank you for the wonderful things you’ve done for so many people. It’s occasions like this, and only occasions like this, when the people of God have a chance to express their love and gratitude to their priests. That’s why I really hope, and I always encourage priests — even those who don’t want to celebrate their 25th anniversaries and their 50th anniversaries (to celebrate their anniversaries). It’s not about them. It’s about the priesthood which they model. It’s about Christ whom they exemplify. It’s about the wonderful work and the way they touch the lives of so many.”

Also in attendance was Bishop Christopher Jones, who flew in from the Diocese of Elphin, Ireland. Bishop Jones and Msgr. Devine worked together in a school during the 1960s.

After his ordination, Father Devine, who was born in County Galway in Ireland, was sent to do post-graduate work in education. Because of a surplus of priests in his diocese, he was sent to Florida to the Diocese of St. Augustine, where he ministered at Christ the King Parish in Jacksonville and taught at the local high school beginning in 1958.

The pastor there, Father W. Thomas Larkin, who later became the second bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, gave all his assistants the same advice: say your prayers, and smile.

“I have tried to follow as well as I can,” Msgr. Devine said, though he admitted that “I am more successful in the second than in the first.”

He stayed in Florida for two years and then returned to Ireland, where he taught high school for 14 years, always returning to Florida for several months during the summers to help out during school vacations, he said.

“After 14 years, the sand got in my shoes, and I asked to come (to Florida) on a permanent basis,” he said.

He ministered at several parishes, including St. Lawrence in Tampa; the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg; and St. Cecelia in Clearwater, where he succeeded its pastor, Msgr. Larkin, who had been elevated to bishop. Then he was sent to found St. James the Apostle Parish, a new church in the Port Richey area, where he stayed for 16 years.

His secretary for 13 years there was Jeanette Bastien, who recalled a compassionate man with a great sense of humor. She said that on his first day of work, he told her that he had never made a mistake.

“He said the only time he thought he made a mistake was in 1952,” she recalled. “After he thought about it, he said he hadn’t made a mistake in 1952. So I said to him, ‘Father, I thought I was married to Mr. Perfect, but now I’m going to have to work for him, too?’”

Along with a love of sports — wrestling and soccer are two of his passions — he also loves children and is a happy person, she said.

Msgr. Devine still visits students at St. Cecelia School and Clearwater Central Catholic School, both in Clearwater, and he refers to his time spent there as “a ministry of listening and encouragement.”

Sandy Tobin, who has known Msgr. Devine for more than 30 years, said the monsignor has known many people since they were infants, and has been a guide, a mentor, a friend, and almost like an uncle or grandfather to many Catholics over the years.

One of her favorite stories about Msgr. Devine involves her children. When he used to visit her family, her kids would press their faces against the window, waiting for his arrival, Tobin said. This was around the time when automobiles were becoming a little more advanced, and the headlights would stay on for a short time before automatically turning themselves off.

Msgr. Devine would use that quirk to good effect: He would get out of his car and, as he was heading toward the Tobins’ front door, he would suddenly turn, make the sign of the cross — with the headlights at that very moment turning off, she said.

“They thought he was very powerful,” she said, laughing. “It was years before they caught on.”

Although his impish sense of humor was always there, Msgr. Devine said over the years one of the ways he has changed is that he has become more compassionate toward others.

“The time I came, things were more black and white,” he said. “That time, the big emphasis was on rules.”

He said he loves being at St. Brendan’s, where he hopes to continue “for another few years as long as I’m able and can do things and serve the church and serve the Lord,” he said. “It’s a great privilege. I’m happier now than I ever was.”

Photo: Msgr. Michael Devine, following his 50th anniversary mass. By Carlos Briceno, Florida Catholic