Chaplain (Colonel) William D. Cleary, commandant of the Chaplain School, has been elevated to the rank of Domestic Prelate of the Papal Household by His Holiness Pope Plus XII, it was announced last week by the Roman Catholic Military Ordinariate in New York.

Since Chaplain Cleary has been serving with the Army on numerous stations since 1918, the award of this office, which carries the title of Right Reverend Monsignor, was made for outstanding and conspicuous service to the country as well as to the Church. Upon his return from the war zone, Archbishop Francis Spellman, head Catholic Chaplain of the U. S., will invest the Colonel with his new robes of office.

Served in World War I

Colonel Cleary, now 61 years old, was ordained in Paris in 1908, and was commissioned as an Army chaplain after ten years of service in Brooklyn parishes. When the A.E.F. was demobilized, he remained with the armies of occupation in France, Belgium, and Germany. The post-war period found him alternating tours of duty in the South and the Phillippines.

With the growth of armored untis in the Army, the Colonel served as chaplain of the 1st Armored Division, the 1st Armored Corps, and finally as head chaplain of the entire Armored Force. His appointment as commandant of the Chaplain School came in January, 1942.